Its A Jungle Out There!

Playground safety has come a long way since The Sheep was a wee little lambie. Equipment is kinder and gentler than it once was in the hopes of reducing injuries. We have anti-bullying and social skill programs in order to help kids make better choices when it comes to interacting with the rest of the human race. We do good work, if I do say so myself. We have a plan for every possible event that could cause harm to our future doctors, lawyers and presidents.

But kids will find a way. They are crafty. For every safety measure we put into place, they have a contingency plan. They are bound and determined to punish us for making them eat their veggies by causing grey hairs to sprout overnight.

Yesterday's recess horror-tally was a new record as far as I'm concerned. We had one broken leg and one snake bite. The leg was the result of a particularly zealous ball-related game and the snake bite was just poor judgment. The leg required that I sacrifice a staff person so someone could comfort the victim and meet the ambulance. The snake required a memo about the dangers of handling wild creatures for one's general amusement. The snake also took a good chunk out of my teaching day given that I had to explain umpty-gazillion times that the likelihood of a poisonous snake vacationing on a Southern Maine playground was pretty much nil. This did little to quash the rumor mill and by lunchtime, it was general knowledge that a new and highly aggressive form of poisonous reptile had migrated to the frozen north in order to paralyze 6th graders who were just minding their own business and/or terrorizing local wildlife.

Sheesh!

What with my allergies mutating into a lovely respiratory infection, my patience for this stuff is pretty low. Fortunately none of my students were among the injured and we were able to move on with the day. Today, the whole thing was nothing but a distant memory and the little darlings are now plotting new ways to scare the staff into cardiac arrest. Its nice that they have a hobby and all...

No new knitting to report, what with all the working and visiting of relatives. We are hoping to have something off the needles and ready for your review during the weekend, but that may be optimistic. For now, a little piece of advice: give your children the information they need to keep themselves safe out there in the big, wide world.

Then wrap them in kitchen towels and duct tape. The extra padding may be a good idea.

SA