Sports day

The message given clearly to the children was "Everyone is a winner." Some parents didn't like that because they could see their children not making an effort. Others had concerned children, nevertheless, because they were still concerned about being last.

Kids don't have adult logic. They can also get thrown off balance emotionally even after lots of preparation. So, I always watch with a sense of trepidation to see if my 3 year old is going to have a bout of "stage fright" when asked to perform in front of all those strange people. She did not have a clue what to do with the hoop for "skip a hoola" and was guided by a gym mistress to the end rope for a respectable "winning position".

After that series of events, where they had the boys and girls competing separately, the parents of the entry class (mainly 4 year olds) milled closer to the events to give their physical support for the next set of events. "Egg and cup" came next. When I saw one boy look in horror at his fallen egg, and stare, arms folded and face scowling like John Cleese as if to say "You! You have let me down!" When aided by some elder kids and another mistress he dissolved into tears. Well, this event went well for the class, and the little lass ran well till she saw Daddy and veered off towards me, forcing me to take a position behind the finish rope to help her get there. Hugs and kisses and shooing off to the arms of the teachers again. This was getting harrowing. Well, I know that my kid can run, as she was happily doing laps around an apartment for afternoons on end over the past two months and fatiguing her at-home parent. And yes, she came up with a few tricks. She ran the 40 meters dashingly and looked happy and saw Daddy and ended up in the middle of the field for an even better "winning position".

That was it for the little ones and no parents/child race for us. The youngest ones were trooped back to their class rooms and had a little more real schooling to suffer, sorry I mean do. One boy had had enough and on seeing a parent in mid-morning clearly had no idea why he was not going home; he bawled.

Do I want to go into the moral of day? No. Times have changed. Lots of Dads were there and the Mums that were there were not all stay-home types. I had noticed from my time as a football coach in the US that the mothers are more rabid fanatics, and it is also evident in Barbados. Do you really believe that winning a sack and skipping race or skip a hoola warrants sreaming and jumping all the way along?
Time management was on good show and BlackBerry-itis was evident, dare I say mainly amongst the women. When I picked my lass up at the regular time, she said she had had a great day (after "I don't want to go to school!") and really enjoyed the sports where "I ran and ran." Rest of the day was good too. She got to play with a class mate who lives a few house away now and they played happily all afternoon at the two houses. My girl's Mum came back from her business trip too, so all's right with the world.