Try going back to the good old days. No teenage angst, no real stress over homework, no worrying about college and most importantly, recess.

Why did we lose this amazing thing going into middle school?

We used to get a 30-minute break and were set free on the playground to do whatever we wanted to. You could play on slides, play ball games, or break your limbs on the monkey bars.

Actually, that might have been one of the reasons.

People are always going on about how we need more exercise and how we have to get off our phones to enjoy life, but as soon as we become teenagers, we lose a great way to do both of those things. Granted, I’d bet that about half the student body would just find a wall to lean on to look at their phone anyway, but at least it might be in proximity to other people and the outdoors.

Imagine what a high school playground would look like. I’ve tried to play with my younger brother in the parks of my elementary days and have gotten stuck more times than I’d like to say. If someone made a playground adult sized, that means that even the teachers could have some fun and get to break their legs on the bigger monkey bars.

Some might say that you could have chosen a study hall if you want a break. A study hall is just free time to do your work in a classroom, which sounds suspiciously like what happened when your recess was taken away. What used to be punishment is now something to look forward to.

While the dream of a free hour randomly in the middle of the day might be impossible, the ideas behind it are important. It’s important to take a break sometimes and get some vitamin D, it’s healthy to literally stop and smell some roses.

It’s finally getting warmer now, so maybe take a minute or two to just put down the work and look around. It isn’t going to be able to compare to playing corner ball with all your friends, but it’ll definitely be better than the subsequent scrapes.