Today I ate lunch with my third-grader at her elementary school. She had nachos, I chose the meatball sub. Before I had even sat down at the table, I made a mess by spilling the sauce on my shirt. After all these years, I'm still a nerd.
It brought to mind the time I peed my pants in Kindergarten. The pants were light brown when dry and dark brown when wet. How embarassing! Could that be why I wear mostly black pants now? Hmmm, interesting.
After lunch I stayed for recess. There were still many of the same things I played with as a boy - tether ball, jump road, swings and assorted stuff to climb on. There are many differences as well. Many of my childhood playground favorites have been removed or replaced with plastic substitutes, all in the name of safety. We want to provide an injury free environment to protect our precious little ones. So guess what the kids did first. They bypassed all the safe spots and took turns sliding down the hand rail of the play area. A slip to either side would have landed them on hard steps, sure to break either an arm or a rib. So much for safety.
Hey, kids will be kids. That's why we have bandages and bleach. Being a kid is messy and somewhat dangerous. That's what makes it fun. Let 'em be little as long as possible. There will come a time when they will have to grow up and be neat and safe. Don't rush it.
I'm stretching my childhood as long as possible. Somedays I do pretty good, at least at the immature part. And think, if I make it long enough, there'll come a time when I'll start peeing my pants again.
I'm going out tomorrow to buy more black pants.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment