If you want to get in on the ground floor of the next hot thing, why not consider making and selling protective bubbles. It seems to be a coming trend:

Tag, you’re out! Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they’ll get hurt and hold the school liable.

Recess is “a time when accidents can happen,” said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.

While some will say that the primary purpose is protecting children from injury I have a sneaking suspicion that the liability issue is the larger concern.

Another part of the equation is the trend toward removing all competition from young lives.

Several school administrators around Attleboro, a city of about 45,000 residents, took aim at dodgeball a few years ago, saying it was exclusionary and dangerous.

Many recreational groups are now promoting no-score sports, although you can bet there are more than a few parents in the stands who know the real final score.

Anyone who has ever spent half an hour in the presence of two or more kids knows that they are naturally competitive. When children get together they are going to see who can run faster, who can jump higher, or who can get the dirtiest.

At least one parent gets it.

“I think that it’s unfortunate that kids’ lives are micromanaged and there are social skills they’ll never develop on their own,” said Debbie Laferriere, who has two children at Willett, about 40 miles south of Boston. “Playing tag is just part of being a kid.”

But if the nanny state gets it’s way you can still make a fortune selling those protective bubbles.

That is if you can overcome the competition.