To bleed, or not to bleed.

Nothing terribly exciting or weird happened today, and that is ok by me! Well, that being said, as soon as I walked into the school office, one of the secretaries informed me that my older son, Anthony, had gotten his head scraped up while playing football during the first recess. It had bled pretty badly and he was quite upset. As the kids from his class were entering the playground, they immediately came up to me and told me Anthony got hurt, that it bled a lot and how "bad" it was. When I saw him during lunch recess he seemed to be ok, except for a band aid on his forehead. When I asked him what happened, the emotions started welling up in his face. There was very little blood on the bandage but, hey, I'm sure it was much worse when it happened..."MUCH" worse! Two of his friends were walking with him and proceeded to tell me all the "awful" details. How Anthony was under a dog-pile of kids and his friend, Chris, tried to help save him, but as he was trying to pull my son out, Chris got clobbered by another kid. Oh, the tragedy of it all!! It sounded like mayhem! (In other words, the usual craziness of 8-9 year old boys.) I spoke to the alleged criminals and they were all apologetic and said they weren't trying to hurt anyone. Uh huh.

Well, Anthony's injury is just fine. I took off the bandage and there was only a small bump with a scrape on top. No more blood and no more bandage. But you'd think he cracked his head open by the response to my taking the bandage off! Oh, the drama.

Aren't most of us a little like that, though? We crave attention when we feel hurt. Or, we want to be left alone with our wound festering under an old bandage, not wanting to deal with the pain of getting a new one? Deep, I know.

Even after all these years, I'm still getting educated in elementary school.

We are done with the sledding!

When I arrived at work today, I was informed that we are no longer allowing students to go sledding down the hill. Apparently, this morning's recess sledding extravaganza was a disaster. Many students slid far too aggressively and injuries ensued. Needless to say, the students were NOT happy about this.

At first, I said only the kids with snow pants could still slide down the hill (since they wouldn't get too wet), but this didn't last long. Conflicted students thought their pants could withstand the wetness too and proceeded to slide on their behinds. Ok, now NO ONE can slide down the hill. Boo. "So, what CAN we do?" asked a student. "You can make very small snowmen," I answered. This seemed to appease some of the kids. Whew. There were still some sneaky buggers who tried to slide down the hill when I wasn't looking, but I caught most of them. I hate being the bad guy, but someone has to prevent your kids from doing something silly and getting hurt (then suing the school!).

The other duty, we'll call her "Helga," had a particularly hard day. She was watching one end of the playground where there were fifth and sixth graders playing. Several of the boys were sliding down a slope and she asked them to stop. They would not listen to her. I wasn't there so I don't know exactly what happened but I heard her call the front office on the walkie-talkie. She sounded so despondent and asked for help. Mrs. Diggers, the main secretary, came out to speak to the little offenders! As soon as recess was over, Helga spoke to the principal and went on her way. Soon thereafter, I saw several boys in the principal's office. Good, give 'em "heck." I felt so bad for Helga. She has a great heart for the kids and does a great job. Sometimes, with the kids today, it's hard to instill authority and respect. And when I meet some of the parents, I understand why (no judgment, just fact). It is hard being a parent.

Let's hope Helga has a better day tomorrow.

Sledding and big snow balls.

Yesterday we had another big snow storm. That means today was another "fun in the snow" day! Several kids brought sleds (some were small pieces of plastic that was just big enough for their behinds). Fun, right? Well, for the kids, yes. Let's say it got crazy enough that the principal felt the need to come outside and observe.

Someone thought it would be fun to build some very large snow balls and leave them at the base of the sledding paths. There was plenty of room on the hill for the kids to avoid these obstacles. But there seemed to be some cosmic force inside these large, hard mounds of ice and snow that caused the unsuspecting sliders to head right for them! So, I stood right in front of said snow balls and tried to veer kids away from them. But the more I did this the more kids I had to shoo away. They just kept coming up to me asking dumb questions like, "What are these snow balls?" "Who made them?" "What are they doing here?" "Why are you standing near them?" "Why do I have to move away from the hill?" "Why do I have to walk around the sliding path and not straight up it?" Kids were everywhere! On top of the hill, in the middle of the hill, on the bottom of the hill - they were like ants! It was CHAOS! Kids kept getting in the way, getting pummeled by other sleds, kids slipping and falling, getting wet (esp. those who didn't have snow pants on), wrestling, pulling, hitting with snow balls, and getting snow everywhere! ll

The principal came out with a large pole and proceeded to break up the snow balls. Then he asked me to gather some boys around who can stomp the snow ball remains into the ground. No problem...found plenty of boys (and girls) who loved taking their frustrations out on the snow balls!

Well, needless to say, all the kids went back into the school wet, cold, red-faced and exhausted! I felt bad for the teachers who had to deal with these kids, but I was glad I was done with them!

Walk! Don't run!

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Fun with snow and ice.

It snowed last weekend and the cold weather made it last for several days. The kids had a ball playing in it. We, the duties, did not.

Recess was filled with the following admonitions:

"You can't go sledding on your coat! Put it back on, it's freezing!" (My kids were, of course, involved.)

"You can't throw snowballs!"

"Do not kick ice! You almost clocked me!"

"Do not make your friend into a snowman!"

"Do not slide on the ice and crash into people!" (polar bowling)

"Do NOT play with the frozen dog poop!!" (Yep, it's still there.)

The next day, most of the snow was melted, but there were a few "fun" patches of ice that kids proceeded to "skate" upon. Some fifth graders lined up on the ice and played a game of let's see who can lose their balance first! The funny part was that the other duty's daughter was playing and I saw her fall first!

The sun came out and most of the coats came off. Granted, those who were running around, took them off because, well, they were hot. But once they stood still they got chilly (well, a few did). What ends up happening is that several kids forget their coats on the playground and the lost and found pile grows and grows. Which boggles my mind. Because there are SO many nice coats and accessories in the pile. So, parents, please, check the school lost and found if your child is missing ANYTHING. You'd be amazed at what's in there.

Well, it's snowing again today. More fun with snow and ice....yippee...

Drama Queens and Dog-doo...

So, today was an interesting day at Westland Elementary. First of all, the weather has been unseasonably warm and the sun has been shining a lot these days. All good, don't get me wrong. But I think all that vitamin D is making the kids' brains loopy.

The kids where is high spirits. There was a lot of "slow down," "be careful," "get off that tree," "no kicking," "no sliding on your coat down the hill," etc. I blew my whistle numerous times during the 1-4 grade recesses.

Mary, one of our most prevalent characters, was not having a good day. It started with her and one of her friends walking on to the playground right after lunch. I heard Mary say, "I am going to play with some other girls. I'll play with you all day tomorrow." (Tomorrow is a holiday - no school). Mary's friend looked quite sad about this, so I asked what was going on. After Mary explained, I mentioned that everyone should be allowed to play. We need to be a friend to everyone. Mary didn't like my reasoning. Then she proceeded to call me "mean" and I'm always on other kids' side and never on her side. She started to run away. I kept calling out and calmly tried to explain I was not coming down on her (I spoke with my best "Donna Reed" voice I could muster.) Well, then someone opened the door (which they are not supposed to do during recess!) and Mary charged into the school. I ran after her and she turned around, after calling out to her about four times, and said she needed to get her coat. Uh huh, right. So I followed her into her classroom where her teacher was sitting at her desk. (Thank you, God, that she was there!) Mrs. Raleigh told Mary that she knew better than to come in for her coat (students are supposed to bring their coats with them when they leave for recess. If they forget, they can go to lost and found to use another coat. This is so teachers can have some peace and quiet while they get their lessons ready.) Mary walked out of the room in a huff and I told her I needed to take her to the Principal's office. "Why!!!! You're SO MEAN TO ME!!!! I'M NOT GOING!!!" And she sat in the hall next to her class with her hands folded in defiance. I said, "Ok. I'm going to get some help." Then walked to the office and asked one of the secretaries to come with me to get Mary. Well, when we returned to the class, she was gone. So, we walked outside and looked around for her. There she was, acting like nothing happened. When we called out to Mary, she looked at us like nothing happened. The secretary talked to her and brought her to the office. I breathed a sigh of relief and tried to fend off all the questions of "What happened with Mary?"

Shortly thereafter, Jack got into some action. One of the first grade boys came over crying and holding his arm. He told me Jack threw a piece of ice at him which hurt his arm. "Where's Jack?" No one knew where he was. He ran away so he wouldn't get in trouble! I told the little boy that I'd talk to Jack after recess and I'll speak to his teacher as well. So, the bell rings and here he comes, like nothing happened. When I started talking to him, he just looked at me with his "innocent" eyes and just walked away. "Sigh." So, again, I had to walk into his classroom and speak to the substitute teacher. I walked out as she was trying to get Jack to understand the consequences of his actions.

I really feel for these teachers. And speaking to several of them, they have told me it's more like a daycare with etiquette lessons than a school of the "3 R's."

The last thing I will share about this day, is that during the 5-6 grade recess, someone found a nice pile of dog poop. It was frozen solid in a patch of ice. And it was right next to the kick ball field (of course). And you know, as soon as I started telling students to watch out for it, several students walked right towards it (unbeknownst) and I had to stay in the area reminding absent-minded students to not step there! So, decided to place a large rock on top, since I could not remove the solid mass of frozen feces. This action then caused several students to trip over the rock, right after I told them to look where they were going! Understand that before the first student told me about the poop, no one was walking in this area! Afterwards, a parade seemed to form and the marching path included stepping in dog doo. Another "sigh."

Well, I guess that's why they hire people like me to patrol recess. How do you, parents with large families, do it??!!

Silly girls and boys.

I've noticed certain groups of people that usually hang out together and those who generally just wander the playground alone. I understand this is normal even for adults. It still fascinates me though.

One of the silliest group of girls play like they're animals in a animal shelter. They are mostly puppies and kitties. There is a girl or two who play the care givers and are constantly chasing the "naughty puppies and kitties" back into their shelter. They REALLY get into it. Jump ropes are sometimes used as leashes to take the pets on walks (I make sure the rope is tied on to their bellies and NOT their necks!). Lately, however, they have moved on to mommies and babies. Half the girls are the mommies and the other half are the babies. Again, the mommies are usually chasing the "naughty babies" around the playground.

What are they trying to say or prove? What is the psychological meaning behind this behavior? Ah, who cares, I'm just glad they are having fun and not bugging me with dumb questions like my next group.

So, there are three fifth-grade boys who like to ask me silly questions and give me hugs. Not because they really like me (maybe they do), but because they, well, they're fifth-graders. They like to annoy any adult that will look at them. (Truth be told, they are good kids and I really do like them.) It's become more of a game and I've started calling them "Tweedle Dee," "Tweedle Dum," and "Tweedle Doh." They love it! They'll stand on top of the jungle gym and say "Hi duty! Hi! Hi!..." until I acknowledge them-or walk away.

Today, they convinced a poor girl to join in their merriment. The four of them had eye masks like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The girl even had a turtle shell backpack. Oh boy...so they went back and forth from me to the other duty asking for missions to accomplish. And, yes, then they'd give us a hug. Well, ya gotta love their imagination and camaraderie!

Some thoughts before I go on.

Basically, my day as recess "Duty" goes well. The kids are really good kids. The school is located in a good neighborhood. There is quite a bit of parental involvement. The teachers and staff are top notch, in my book.

Yet, even though Westland Elementary is known as a "School of Excellence" and the kids test fairly well on a national level, they are kids. And, being a mother with two boys, along with having lots of friends who have kids, I have learned that there is a certain trait to kids that is universal. Their brains are not fully developed yet!!! There are many elements of life they just have NO CLUE about. We, as adults, need to help guide, teach, encourage and discipline them through this crazy thing called adolescence. And I do mean "discipline!" Not spanking or beatings (although tempting) but teaching them consequences for their actions. I find this last lesson alludes most kids (and some parents) and must be painstakingly repeated.

Teachers, school staff, and, yes, us "Duties" can only do so much to help your kids navigate life. Speaking for myself, I love helping kids learn about sharing, kindness and the consequences of doing cartwheels downhill. That being said, I do believe we, as a society, need to be more aware of what's going on in the playground. That means asking specific questions about their day. "Who did you play with during recess?" "What did you play?" "Did you play fairly and kindly?" "What did you eat for lunch?" "Did you have any fruit or veggies?" "Were you sent to the office for any reason?" "Did you have any injuries today?" "Did you cause anyone to have injuries today?" "Did you check lost and found for that hat you lost last year?"....you know, questions like that... And, yes, ask them about their lessons and homework, duh.

Ok, thank you for letting me get that off my chest. Now to the good stuff. The things kids do on the playground. Just a warning...you might read about some situations where you might be saying to yourself, "Hey, that happened in my business meeting the other day?" And you'd be right. There are some fundamental principles that we never outgrow (well, at least some of us).