Lamenting Field Day

It's only been two years since our last entry. But Field Day is important. And I must write. In fact, I wrote my bi-annual Facebook update today: "Today I celebrate Maya's enthusiasm for Field Day. Found her comfy and asleep last night under the covers wearing her shorts, tank top, socks and even her running shoes. Used to be my favorite day of the school year too." A novel by Twitter standards, and merely average by Facebook standards, but really it does not tell the whole story. Alas, it is time to blog.

What the heck happened to the brilliant elementary school rite of passage known as Field Day? It used to be a series of wonderfully grueling events like the 25 yard dash, 50 yard dash, three legged race, shuffle run, pole climb, dodgeball, tetherball, kickball, etc. It was the Olympics for kids. There were teams, there were ribbons, there were winners, there were losers, there was glory, there were tears, there were dramatic come from behind victories, there were heartbreaking falls from grace, and damnit there were dreams! Big dreams. Dreams of being the 1st grade girl 50 yard dash champion. The reality. The achievement. The thankfulness that the real "fastest" girl was absent that day. But still, the MOMENT!

Field Day, my beloved Field Day, what happened? You now look like a corporate retreat. There's the "cooperative ski" activity (imagine 5 kids on a board trying to move it in unison), the giant inflatable soccer ball kick (not even for distance or accuracy), the jump through a really big hula hoop while it's moving, the decorative chalk name writing, etc. And nobody wins anything! The kids have a card that gets "punched" at each event and their job is to fill up their card with hole punches. You don't even have to do the event, just find the lady with the hole puncher and have her punch your card. There are no winners, no losers, no glory, no lessons, no inspiration. Just a wasteland of emotional nothingness, and a field with hole punches strewn about in the shapes of hearts, circles and stars.

Kids can lose, kids can win, kids can be inspired by the greatness of their peers, kids can admire excellence and talent, they can celebrate others' accomplishments - but we deny them the opportunity. We are too afraid their self esteem will be crushed, that they'll lose interest if they have to earn anything or if they realize they’re not particularly good at something, we undersell their ability to lose and bounce back, we don't give them any reason to practice the 25 yard dash at recess all year in anticipation of the "big day". I especially loved the year where the best third grade girl beat the best third grade boy head to head in the 50 yard dash. I loved that the kid who could barely read in 4th grade won the Field Day basketball "horse" competition. I think the only day he liked at school in all his years was that day. Field Day.

So I ask again, what the heck happened to Field Day? They already stopped keeping score in games like soccer, t-ball, softball, and basketball for most of the younger kids. Ok, fine. But Field Day? Come on! It's one day a year for goodness sake, let everyone learn how to lose (and see that it can still be fun), let everyone see that people have different strengths and weaknesses, and let a few experience what might be the rush of their young lives by being the best at something for that day, for that moment, for that one memory that may just last a lifetime. Mary Freeman. She was the girl absent that day in 1st grade and would have crushed me in the 50 yard dash. But that would have been okay too. Because I LOVED Field Day. Win AND Lose.

Mr. Tambourine Man

Many of you know that Dash has a keen interest in music. His dancing skills are legendary (for a small, skinny, white boy) and his little finger wave a la John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever is a huge hit with the ladies. So alas, Dash decided that it was time to supplement his dancing moves and learn to play a musical instrument (other than the one between his legs during bathtime). The noisier the better. He settled on a red tambourine at daycare. Notwithstanding Dash's love of music, I was surprised by the phone call I received. It went something like this...

"Anne, this is Lanetria from daycare and we have a situation over here" (side note - Lanetria has been part of our "family" since Maya was born and she knows us and both kids incredibly well.)

"what's wrong?" I gasped envisioning blood, broken limbs, or worse...the stomach flu.

"well, Dash was walking around with a tambourine on the top of his head and he somehow managed to pull it over his head and now it's around his neck. We can't get it off. We lubed him up with butter and vaseline, but it still won't come off. You need to come get him"

"what the hell am I supposed to do with him?" I asked.

"we don't know - just thought you should pick him up since we're out of ideas - and because the kids want to jiggle his neck. He's eating snack right now. It doesn't bother him as long as we're not trying to pull it off him. And he kind of likes the noise when he moves around."

Needless to say, with the help of Chris the Contractor (forget Bob the Builder), we managed to get Dash home and cut off the tambourine about a minute before I gave up and headed for the doctor's office to get a cast saw. Dash was no worse for wear, save the vaseline and butter "sheen" that lasted for a good few days. As you can imagine, we're quite proud.

Blogging 101

Welcome! We finally decided to join the blogosphere and we hope to keep you all updated on the happenings of Team Istafanous. Can we promise we'll be very good at this? No. Can we promise that we'll blog regularly? No. Can we promise that this won't bore you to tears? No. But mark our blog as a "favorite" anyway and if your expectations are low enough you might be entirely satisfied and entertained.