They're Building a Trap

I substituted at school today.   It was for the afters school group that's after regular school hours.   The children in the group were a mix of ages, but most were between four and nine.      We go outside after a short while and the children love to do all sorts of things in the school yard.  

Some of those things are definitely okay; some of them are not.   As a substitute teacher, I'm still learning what falls into which category.   For instance, I learned today that the children don't sit on the top of the picnic table (because I was sitting on it and a helpful child told me the rule.)  Toys or equipment can be used as intended, but in some cases they can be used for other reasons.

For instance, you can't use small golf clubs as clubs or weapons.   You can, though, utilize some of the various items around the grounds with the sand box.   I looked over today and saw two see-saws, four hula-hoops, several plastic scoops and some cones in one area near the sand box.   There was mulch on top of some of the items and sand in several piles.      When I asked the main teacher if it was okay, she glanced over and said, "that's fine, they're building a trap."

I suddenly remembered from my childhood the trap building.   There was pit digging and trap building but it almost always was initiated by a boy and usually was something the boys spent lots of time doing together while I did other things and didn't understand the draw of the trap building.

My son isn't quite old enough to build traps yet, but some of those boys are in the same class as my son.   I wonder when we'll start to have "traps" build in our back yard?

The Big Boy Update:  My son did not want to go to school today.   He told me he wanted to go to his doctor (he said her name was Sue) and then go home.   He couldn't tell me how he felt bad, but when we got to school, he decided it would be okay to go ahead in to class.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter told my husband for no particular reason the other day, "dad, I don't like spiders."  Interestingly enough, dad doesn't like spiders either.