A Fun Day

Today was Fun Day at the Boyos' school.  Some schools might call it Field Day.  It's the same thing.  Lots of runnin' and funnin' out in the sun and fresh air.  In years past, the kids have competed for 1st, 2nd, 3rd place ribbons and such.  The school has also made use of the track and all the space around it.  This year, however, plans were forced to change.  And, if I do say so myself, they changed for the better.  Improvements and additions have been happening to our school the past year and a half, and that includes the track and all fields.  So the elementary Fun Day was relocated to parking lots, the playground and the street in front of the school.  Oh, some of us parents complained.  We fretted about parking and the inconvenience of a two block length of street closing for the day.  But it was so fun!  Truly a FUN day!  The kids had a blast.



Busy playground



What I appreciated most about the forced change was the doing away with the competition aspect.  This year the kids did not compete for first place; no ribbons of different colors were handed out.  The focus was entirely on FUN.  The games were things like Shoe Kick, Tricycle Races, Water Balloon Toss, Scooter Races, Obstacle Course and of course the Dashes.  The kids were just having FUN!  I chatted with the school counselor a while about the change.  Some parents phoned in, very upset that Junior would not be getting a ribbon this year.  She had no sympathy for them, at least not in relating the story to me.  "There is so much competition on that end," she said, motioning to the highschool end of the building.  "They don't need it here." 

I agreed with her.  I mean, really...how often do our kids just get to be KIDS?  How often, in today's society, do they get to have FUN?  With no restrictions, no judgements, no tips on how to "improve their game"?  Today was all about good, ol' fashioned fun. 

Even the teachers got in on the fun!