Bring out the bubblewrap!
The dotter is quite mumchance about her days at school or at after-care. Trying to get her to talk about it is…well, you either do a version of Twenty Questions, or wait until the Feeling Game at bedtime, at which point some info may (may) come out. The Twenty Questions approach needs variation, so I can:
- Ask whether she had gym, library, or music that day.
- Ask who was teacher’s helper.
- Ask what book was read today, and what it was about…
You get the drift. It’s like getting blood from a stone, and I’m sure we’ll be getting the "Where did you go?" "Out." "What did you do?" "Nothing." conversation when she’s older.
So the other day, when she said that she had had gym that day, I asked her, "So what did you do?"
She shrugged and said, "I don’t remember."
AAARRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!
Desperate to get some detail out of her, I asked, "Did you do cartwheels in gym today?"
Dotter shook her head. "No, we’re not allowed to. We might get hurt."
OmegaDad and I blinked at each other across the table. After a moment, I asked, "Did you play games in gym? Like…like Red Rover?"
Dotter shook her head again. "No, we can’t play that. Someone might fall down."
We blinked again. OmegaDad said to me, in an aside, "Oh, goodness no, we can’t have that!" and then asked, "So what do you do in gym?"
Dotter said, "We do exercises."
Bleah!
I can report, having been at a school do in the gymnasium where there were oodles of youngsters with their families, that many of the girls know how to do cartwheels. This is a relief. Even though I am consumed with envy, because I was never able to do cartwheels, being too wussy to actually get my legs straight up and about.
And I am definitely not a fan of, say, Dodge Ball, which I remember as a source of stinging baps from balls hurled with vigor by the bigger and more bullyish of the boys.
But…but…sheesh, guys–these are five-year-olds! Making them do exercises?! Gak! Way to go to make physical activity really appealing and a life-long passion, eh?!
I am tempted to go into a tirade that starts with, "In my day, sonny, we had to walk to school uphill both ways!" It just makes me sad that some fear of litigation, or general dismay at kids being kids, has led to this.
posted in Parenting, Pop Culture, School | 6 Comments
