Play fighting can be dangerous and violent even if you are just playing.
When I interviewed Valerie, she mentioned how play fighting “is not safe because people can seriously get hurt and also get in trouble at school. Play fighting in school also seems bad because of the consequences you have to deal with after the fighting.”
When I interviewed Anthony, he said that, play fighting in the ACE setting is “playing in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He thinks that, we are in a professional setting with students and staff. It’s inappropriate to be fighting in this setting even if it is playing. Other people might look at it differently and interpret it as violent.
Joanne said, that when people see play fighting, it can cause a trigger or traumatize them. When certain people view things like this, it can really bring them back to hard times and cause them to have a hard time getting over a situation like this. Many teens and adults suffer from PTSD. Students who play fight, usually scare other kids because those kids don’t know if it’s serious or not serious.
Some people may think that play fighting is a way to play because of their childhood and how they grew up. Usually, this is normal for many children. This can also be a development stage for a lot of children.
Many teens don’t involve themselves in this type of play because, it can be very aggressive. Many people think that, if kids play fight, they can’t control how far it gets, or people may hit each other too hard. Violent play fighting is what people try to avoid before it gets too serious. Some kids don’t know right from wrong. People think play fighting is serious because, the playing looks so rough.
