Field Day and Other Not So Bright Ideas

So today was Field Day at school. Somehow because there no other "good mommy's" in Mrs. Morrison's class, it was my privledge to run the classes game for field day. The kids enjoyed getting wet in the sponge relay, but basically all they wanted to do was get wet, they had no interest in actually playing the game. I would have been a ton easier to just squirt them with a hose, it would have saved a lot of "good mommy's" a lot of time.

Another question about field day, why can't we just have winners and losers anymore? Are these children's identities so fragile, that they can't handle being a loser in a game that they lost. One of the moms I was with kept saying "your all winners," all I could think about is when did it become a negative to challenge kids through competition. I would like to hope that most children have enough self -confidence that a loss in the sponge relay does not warp them for life. Are we doing kids a favor by sheltering them from the losses of life? When grandma dies is she taking a nap, when they don't get into the college of their choice is it because they weren't chosen for some random reason? How can kids cope with life's losses if they never have to deal with something as simple as losing the three-legged race?

Call me old school, but today's kids are sheltered and babied. I only hope that they somehow manage to get jobs and pay their social security taxes so Jon and I can have our medicine AND not have to eat cat food.