My kid is about to graduate from the fifth grade. He has not been to a field day before- you know, where there are outside games all day long for the kids and the teachers and parents get to help host the games? I had not been to one myself since the 1980s when I was a kid.
OMG it was wonderful. I loved seeing all the kids with their different personalities, sizes, shapes, colors, strengths and weaknesses. Such a wonderful rainbow of humanity! I loved the kids working together in little groups, and I also loved the kids who were having none of it and used it as an opportunity to take a break away from others. Since I was a parent volunteer I had zero accountability and could just quietly agree with their sour mood and put them in a quiet spot.
There wasn't a single kid that annoyed me, which I found surprising. Even the ones who seemed like they had personality issues of some sort had some other kind of deal that I found delightful in some way.
All that being said, I could never work with kids. These teachers are like, "all" the kids are smart. "All" of them are athletes. I was not even trying to do that. When they were in teams trying to do their little games I told them to their faces if they had an obvious talent, praised them for that, and assigned them to a task based on the strength. If I worked with kids the kids would probably never get a chance to work on their weaknesses.
I kept seeing my son across the schoolyard having a good time, smiling, doing things with his friends. At the end of the day when my husband asked him how his day was, all he had to say was that it was hot and there were sweat bees. So maybe he does a lot better away from us than we think he does.
04 Jun 2025, 6:56 am
