Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Recess


     It always amuses me when I ask my kids what happened at school they begin and end by telling me they had recess and lunch.  OK, you had recess and lunch and then came home?  I am not buying it!  I have to literally drag what else they did out of them kicking and screaming.   When I think about it when pressed at that age, I probably would have said the same thing.   Let’s face it; kids live for food and recess.  It is the best part of the day.  It is fact.


         Even if they did enjoy school and learning it would be a rare kid who would actually admit it to an adult and go into elaborate detail.  
 At the elementary school I went to the playground was in a huge dusty field with room to get up a rousing game of no rules soccer or perform a top of your voice recital to the audience of trees that lined the back of the property.  The playground was filled with everything a person could hope for: slides, swings, a teeter totter or two, monkey bars, and a merry go round.  




        One time one of the boys in my class convinced me to try the teeter totter with him.  I had always been a little leery of the teeter totter but didn’t want to look like a big chicken to him.  I bravely got on and for all intents and purposes made it appear I knew exactly what I was doing.  You would have thought I was in a hall of fame somewhere for my expertise of riding teeter totters.  I was the female version of Joe Cool personified.  All was going well until he jumped off sending me crashing to the ground.  My chin slammed against the handle I was holding, HARD.  An explosion of pain engulfed me, my eyes filled with tears, and blood poured from my chin.  If I had been a cartoon, little animated stars would have been swirling over my head.    I began screaming and wailing as only a little girl could do.  Before I knew what hit me, the teacher on recess duty was rushing me into the building to see the nurse.  I got a bandage the size of an elephant’s a$$ for my trouble that day.


        I would like to say that I rushed back out to recess and had the balls to climb right back on the teeter totter.  That would be a lie though.  From then on I walked a wide circle around the teeter totter and never was persuaded to mount one again.  My fear of the infamous teeter totter continues to this day.  Playgrounds can be a wonderful place when you are a kid.  They can also be equally dangerous.  Just last week my son fell off the top of the tallest slide at school plummeting to the ground below.  He received a severe concussion which resulted in swelling to the lining of his brain and an infection which elevated his temperature to fever pitch for days.  To this day, he isn’t quite sure what happened.  If it weren’t for eye witness reports from the teacher on playground duty actually seeing his horrific fall take place I would never know what really truly happened.


      Let’s face it survival on the playground in elementary school can be compared to surviving the jungle where the natives are restless and anything goes.   Somehow a person survives the bumps, scraps, and bruises from the playground.   Even then, when remembering the recesses of the past the times when I left the playground bloody or hurt take precedence over any other memory of the countless games of hopscotch, kick ball, or Chinese jump rope until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.


16 comments:

  1. I LOVE this post. I was injured at recess a few times. For one thing, our jungle gym, slide, swings, see saw (what we call a teeter totter), etc. were all on blacktop. There was no such thing as wood chips, gravel, or anything softish to break your fall before you broke a limb. It was black top or hardpacked dirt/sand with clumps of dead grass. I slipped on rocks on that hardpack and cut my knee wide open in 1st grade. Fell off the slide & broke my wrist & got a concussion in 6th grade. In an ambulance off the playground and everything.

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    1. JoJo, I am so pleased you enjoyed my post and so sorry to hear you have so many battle scars from your time on the playground. It is a wonder you survived your youth in tact!! I bet you have given your mom a few gray hairs in your time. :D Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments!

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  2. Very nice post. well written and well-constructed; I like how the present evolves into the past, and back.
    I also think as horrible as what you've been through, we can protect our children too much in this generation; our kids need to bumps and bruises. We can hover, and I try not to, as my son climbs to the top of the most fragile, tallest tree in the yard. I remember well climbing trees growing up, and I refuse to deprive him of it.

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    1. Sandra, I agree. A person can only warn them to use common sense and to be careful, but we can't keep our children from living. Kids learn from trial and error much as my son and I did. I learned not to teeter totter, and he learned to be extra careful and take two for safety when he gets on the slide. As of yet I don't think he has went near that particular slide, but I am sure one day he will again. Next time he will be more careful and know what not to do. Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments. Once this week is up, he will be off restriction at school and will have to rely on the good judgment he took away from the experience. Like maybe I am not invincible, or maybe I can still do that but next time be more cautious. As much as I would love to wrap my kids in cotton wool and keep them safe I know by doing so I would stifle their zest for living. I am so pleased you enjoyed my post. ♥

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  3. Nice memory spur here Kathy. I liked the swings the best. Never did the hang of the May-Pole. Just seemed too odd and I didn't liek (even then) not being in "control" of the ride. (And was too afraid to just let go and fall off when I didn't want to be on anymore.) So glad you son is recuperating well and yes, I too believe, all our kids need those bumps and scrapes lessons.

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    1. Amy, I liked the swings too. Never had the balls to jump off of them like my kids do. I just about have a cow every time they do that!!! Thank you for stopping by to read and for your comments. I am so pleased you enjoyed my post! ♥

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  4. Nice post Kathy and I agree with the teeter totter being a freaky and lethal toy. Never liked them. I am a whirly gig gal. I liked going round and round and I still love swinging. I have a bench swing out back and I love sitting in it in the evening.

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    1. Jo, I always liked to swing or play imaginary games with my friends. Like we would pretend we were in Little house on the Prairie. I was always Laura, then a few of my friends were Ma, Mary, and Carrie. It was fun. Then in the 5th grade I had the hots for a 6th grader who loved the merry go round, so guess what I loved the merry go round too. LOL I would love to get one of those swings for our house. Just love them. Thank you for stopping by to read and for your comments.

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  5. That was great and I also love how your pictures reflect the story

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    1. Crazed Mom, I am so pleased you enjoyed my post. Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments.

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  6. Yeah, I fell off the teeter totter because a bunch of us got on either side. I somehow landed on my back underneath the darn thing and then my side of it came barrelling down on me. It cost me three little stitches on my chin. I waited about a month before I would ever go back on. And I only teeter tottered with one other person, not have the class on one side and the other half on the other.

    Great post Kathy!

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    1. Jenn, those teeter totters are vicious things!! Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments!

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  7. The playground is where everything great - and terrible - happened. Just like life - we remember the great and awful moments!

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    1. Sharon, yes and the mundane fades into the mist. Thank you for stopping by to read and for your insights and comments!!♥

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  8. Playgrounds never interested me much. I didn't have anyone to hang out with so I really disliked recess. I always liked to talked with the playground moms. They were more fun.

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    1. Susan, while I was in grade school I always had kids to play with at recess. It was as I grew up that people drifted away and I became more of a loner. Now I am one of those playground moms :D Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments! ♥

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