And no cherry
I went to the school to visit Ben and Ruth for lunch today. They've been wanting me to come in for months now, no kidding, but with school for me and for Jonah and all the driving around for Ben's various appointments, getting away in the middle of the day has been a challenge.
But time is growing short. They only have 7 more full school days left, so I figured the time to strike was now while the iron was hot, so to speak. I like the school, although the careful reader of this blog would be forgiven for assuming otherwise. It's a happy place, bright and sunny and cheerful. The kids are sweet and cute (mostly) and so goodnatured. I've spent lots of time in that building and I've never seen a child upset or picked on. That's not to say that it doesn't occur- I'm not stupid, of course all schools involve some bullying to some extent, but being in the lunchroom or on the playground as often as I've been, I swear I've never seen any evidence of it. It's a nice, happy school.
So I had lunch with Ben first (who was very disappointed that I wasn't going to go out to play at recess with him) and then with Ruth. It was a nice time, right up until the end. Ever get a bag of cherries and they're all wonderful until the last one turns out to be rotten? It was like that, such a nice day until the end. At the end of Ruth's lunch the aide told the kids in that sing-song voice that adults use when they're saying the same thing they say every single day that the floor had just been swept before they arrived so they should carefully pick up all the pieces of food and trash bits and throw them away. A girl hustled to get a broom and dustpan and it was all a regular routine which was fine and good except that it was a lie. I'd been there all morning and I knew that not only had the floor not been swept all morning but that the class right before Ruth's group was the kindergarteners who, as you can imagine, aren't the tidiest eaters.
I have no objection to the kids sweeping the lunch room. I think it's great- they should alternate and sweep it every day. Wash down the tables, too. But I hate it, hate it, hate it when adults lie to children. It makes my skin crawl and my face flush. Just tell the kids to sweep. There's no need to elaborate with some false obligation/guilt thing about how they messed up your work. Just say the floor needs to be swept. They'll sweep it either way. Why not respect them as people in the process?
But time is growing short. They only have 7 more full school days left, so I figured the time to strike was now while the iron was hot, so to speak. I like the school, although the careful reader of this blog would be forgiven for assuming otherwise. It's a happy place, bright and sunny and cheerful. The kids are sweet and cute (mostly) and so goodnatured. I've spent lots of time in that building and I've never seen a child upset or picked on. That's not to say that it doesn't occur- I'm not stupid, of course all schools involve some bullying to some extent, but being in the lunchroom or on the playground as often as I've been, I swear I've never seen any evidence of it. It's a nice, happy school.
So I had lunch with Ben first (who was very disappointed that I wasn't going to go out to play at recess with him) and then with Ruth. It was a nice time, right up until the end. Ever get a bag of cherries and they're all wonderful until the last one turns out to be rotten? It was like that, such a nice day until the end. At the end of Ruth's lunch the aide told the kids in that sing-song voice that adults use when they're saying the same thing they say every single day that the floor had just been swept before they arrived so they should carefully pick up all the pieces of food and trash bits and throw them away. A girl hustled to get a broom and dustpan and it was all a regular routine which was fine and good except that it was a lie. I'd been there all morning and I knew that not only had the floor not been swept all morning but that the class right before Ruth's group was the kindergarteners who, as you can imagine, aren't the tidiest eaters.
I have no objection to the kids sweeping the lunch room. I think it's great- they should alternate and sweep it every day. Wash down the tables, too. But I hate it, hate it, hate it when adults lie to children. It makes my skin crawl and my face flush. Just tell the kids to sweep. There's no need to elaborate with some false obligation/guilt thing about how they messed up your work. Just say the floor needs to be swept. They'll sweep it either way. Why not respect them as people in the process?