The Dallas Independent School District will implement at least a 20 minute recess for students in grades pre-k through 5th grade. Part of the reason for the policy change, according to ISD trustee, Dan Micciche, is that studies (surprisingly) show that recess is healthy for children.

It’s surprising that Dallas ISD didn’t think it was, well, sad for children to not have any playtime. Micchiche points out that recess throughout the disrctit varied: some schools had recess for their students, while others didn’t. Some schools used recess as part of a punishment-reward system and other schools had recess for some grades and not for others.

It’s almost 2016 and I’m not sure why some children are forced to sit in a classroom the entire day and are not given room for natural and carefree moments with the friends they’re learning with.