Maybe for Lent I will give up complaining about the weather. It is the very opposite of an eternal perspective, getting grumpy about something that is guaranteed to be temporary. But today is Mardi Gras, so in that festive spirit I will tell you that this morning's weather was absolutely foul. I was out in the weather a fair amount today (I mean, okay, a fair amount for a person with a desk job, which is to say I spent half an hour walking in it), and it was unrelentingly disgusting. The sky couldn't seem to decide whether to snow or rain so it plopped slush down upon our heads in the morning. Then in the afternoon there was freezing rain like needles and a vicious wind. Also mud, because the air is cold but the ground is not.
So it wasn't a great day for walking to school, is what I'm saying. I had planned to send Stella with an umbrella, but we got caught up reading Two Towers and I wound up giving her a ride.
Now I've told you before about the neighborhood grade school. It's on a narrow older street, with signage that says clearly that no one is supposed to park during pickup/drop-off hours. These signs have always been ignored, but the ignoring has risen to a new level recently. Instead of pulling over to the curb and dropping off a kid who then runs down 30 feet to be greeted by the school staff waiting in the driveway, parents are now parking their cars, turning off their engines, unstrapping their kids, locking their doors, and walking with them to the teachers.
It's not just the kindergartners; it's not just kids with special needs. It's a widespread thing: parents are escorting their 9- and 10-year old children 30 feet along the sidewalk.
Under other circumstances I might feel that this is a "to each her own" kind of deal. In these circumstances, though, I do not feel that way. This substantially increases the time it takes to drop a kid off, which increases congestion (and driver irritation) on a narrow street. This makes the zone around the school less safe. The thing they're doing with the idea that kids will be safer thereby is having the opposite effect.
I usually deal with this by ignoring it. Stella mostly walks in the mornings, but when I drop her off I generally don't turn the corner. I believe in my 11-year-old's ability to walk 20 yards without her mother, because I am reckless like that.
Today, for reasons that now elude me, I turned onto the street where the school was and was greeted by a whole string of opportunities to grow in patience. Parents on the street were very carefully poking their umbrellas out of the car first, and then very carefully holding the umbrellas over their kids' doors as the kids emerged, so they could walk the 30 feet to the school driveway without getting slushed on.
"Maybe their kids have sensory issues and you shouldn't be so judgy," I said to myself. "Maybe they have immunological issues and their parents are worried about them getting wet and chilled during cold and flu season. They get to decide what works for their families just like you do."
But OH my friends, I did not succeed in squelching my side-eye. People of America, most children thrive on small challenges. Falling slush is unlikely to break them. They can probably even handle the combination of falling slush AND walking 30 feet down the sidewalk. Try it! You might like it!
It feels like no time at all since Joe was at this school and he will be starting college in the fall. I started to say "Obviously no one is going to hold an umbrella over a COLLEGE STUDENT'S head!" But you know, I wouldn't want to speak too soon.
Recent Comments