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.