A while back, I wrote a blog about my seven year old not being allowed to go outside for recess because he didn't have a coat on. And it was almost 60 degrees . Hell, I keep my house a little over 60 degrees.
It gets better. He wore a jacket to school the next day, but because he had shorts on, he wasn't allowed outside. Because his legs may freeze to death. That happens all of the time. So he began wearing "tights" or whatever you call them under his shorts (Little boys can wear them, men cannot).THEN all the children were told that they "must wear one of those puffy jackets" in order to go outside. Pretty soon, they will have to wear a freaking ski suit just to step outside. The principal said that it was "building policy" regarding the wearing of all the stuff. Building policy? Ok, here is what the policy probably reads:
"Children will wear copious amounts of clothing no matter what the parents think or how soft we are making said children in the long run. The goal of the staff here is to not understand science regarding sickness (not from being cold) but to go by the myths and misconceptions of the staff. " In addition, keep the classrooms hot as hell so the teachers (women who are notoriously cold all of the time) will be comfortable, but the little boys will be hot and uncomfortable."
Hey, how about in June, when its 90 degrees, I send my son to school in jeans and a long sleeve shirt! What will they say then? It's too hot to wear that outfit? I'm gonna put a freaking goose down jacket on him with his hood up and a face mask. Building policy, my ass.
Drive by the local playground or basketball court and not one kid has a jacket on. Pretty soon, they will pass laws governing that shit too, if all of the pansies have their way.
Little boys(and girls of course) need to be tough. They need to be able to handle little things like being cold or hot and they need to dig up worms and be dirty and climb monkey bars and fall and they need to ride their bikes in the woods and they need to go snake hunting and carve their names in trees with their Buck knives and shoot a BB gun and not be told that everything will hurt them or is bad for them.
What the hell is going on? Has it aways been that way? Nope. And why is it that way now? I don't know. Smother, smother smother them until they get to the point where they will only be able to peer out the window of their bedroom between video games, wondering what it would be like to be a "real" kid.
