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As a general rule, kids want to be older than they are.
In kindergarten, they want to be able to read like the big kids in Grade 1. Grade 3 students can’t wait to be the oldest on the playground so they can run the show. Students in Grade 6 are eager to leave elementary behind to be in junior high. Once in Grade 9, students crave the home stretch of their schooling in senior high. Now and then, however, even the biggest kids just want to be kids.
One Saturday, we hosted a senior high boys’ volleyball tournament—our school was filled with testosterone. With these mature students, I felt confident that all would be well if I left my supervision duties to dash to my car for my cellphone. On my way back from the parking lot, I heard whooping, hollering and giggling echoing from the elementary school playground. Backing up for a better look, I spotted a young man from a visiting team trying unsuccessfully to slither down the primary slide while the remainder of his team rejoiced in a game of grounders (hide-and-seek around playground equipment). Considering the equipment was built for children under the age of 10, these young men could easily cause damage. School rules dictated that they be told to vacate the playground structure. Sometimes, however, the best rules are best ignored, especially when kids are just being kids.
Marian Wilson teaches junior high language arts at Rosemary School, Brooks.
