I get it. We all want our kids to be safe. To be honest, I don’t really want to get hurt either. But banning all hard balls on school property because a parent was hit in the head with a soccer ball may be taking things a little too far.

Earl Beatty Junior and Senior Public School in Toronto is the most recent in a string of schools to ban all hard balls from school property. Students are no longer allowed to bring soccer balls, basketballs, baseballs, footballs and volleyballs to school. All balls that aren’t made of sponge or nerf material will be confiscated.

Ottawa and St. Catharines, Ont. have also seen ball bans after playground head injuries resulted from soccer game fun.

Guess what parents? It’s life. Kids get hurt. Parents get hurt. Driving a car is a lot more dangerous than playing a soccer game. Are schools going to insist that all children walk to school because a car is unsafe?

Only seven percent of Canadian children get the required hour of daily physical activity. Moving around not only keeps our kids in great shape but it stimulates brain development and improves concentration.

When are adults going to admit we can’t control everything?

In an attempt to halt the rapidly diminishing demand for pork, the swine flu has been renamed–2009 H1N1. (Can anyone really see that catching on?)

But regardless of the name, if you’re like me you can’t help but watch the spread. Personally, I want to be the first to know if it’s popping up anywhere near my child’s preschool.

Currently there are 8 confirmed cases in the GTA – none in my home city of Toronto just yet. And the US has just confirmed their first 2009 H1N1 (swine flu) related death – a 23-month-old in Texas.

The best place we’ve found for worldwide updates is: http://healthmap.org/en

The map highlights the spread and you can click individual icons for related links in your area.