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Last Friday, Bear went on her first field trip. All week long the various grades at the various elementary schools on base had been taking trips to see a live (and in Japanese) performance of Hansel and Gretel and though I was asked to help chaperone, it just didn’t work out, what with my commitment to my boot camp and the fact that younger siblings were verboten.
Bear looked forward to this field trip for weeks; every day she came home reminding me that I needed to send in her permission slip and the fee (which I {shockingly} had done a couple weeks in advance). Because we own a copy of this book (mine from my childhood) and have read it many times throughout the years she was excited about the performance.
(Sure, a frightening story about kids getting lost in the woods and being abducted by a scary woman who tries to eat them she’s okay with, but the movie Annie freaks her out…)
So I prepared her as best I could, with the following warnings (thanks to some help from her Nanny):
- Don’t talk to strangers
- Stay with the teachers and other grown-ups at all times
- Don’t walk off on her own
- Eat all of her own lunch – no swapping for something more interesting with someone else
- Even if you see friends from other kindergarten classes, stay with your own class at all times. And no yelling to them from afar.
- Wear her seatbelt on the bus unless there weren’t any, in which case she was to remain seated at all times
Her Grammy would have preferred that I not only go with her to hold her hand the entire time, but that I’d labeled all of Bear’s clothing with her name, rank and serial number, and also inserted a GPS microchip into the back of her neck so that I could know where she was if I wasn’t watching while I took the time to blink or breathe. (I declined those particular safety measures, though. Somehow I think it’s a human rights violation?)
When I picked Bear up at the end of the day – when I asked her what her best part was – she had not just one but two:
- Riding a school bus for the Very First Time in her life, which – to her – was the ultimate sign that she’s a “real” kindergartner.
- When the actors came into the audience after the performance to talk to the kids and shake their hands.
And the worst part? “The part in the middle when they had to stop the play so people could get up to go potty.“ The intermission? “Yes, that’s what my teacher called it. I wish they could have just kept going, because I loved when the witch flew in the air above the stage!”
In all, a success. And although I let her out of my sight for hours without a tracking beacon, she still returned home and in one piece. See, Grammy? I told you she’d be okay.
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>I guess you didn't realize that your mother did in fact surgically implant the GPS tracking device into Bear, while she was visiting you last month! By the way, Bear strayed 5.7 meters from her teacher at one point during the trip. Grammy was ready to call 911, but I talked her down!
Posted by Mark Minor | December 11, 2009, 06:16>Ha! Oh, see here the emergency number isn't 911, it's actually 119. Good thing you didn't let her make that call.
Posted by Heather @critter chronicles | December 11, 2009, 07:19>LOL at who I'm guessing is either a grandfather or uncle.Tell Bear I hate stopping things so people with weak and/or small bladders can pee. It's Darwinism: if you don't want to miss, work on your bladder stamina, damnit.(On second thought, you probably shouldn't share that last part with Bear.)
Posted by SciFi Dad | December 11, 2009, 08:07>I'm so glad she had a good time. She looks so grown up in the picture, standing straight and tall and full of confidence and we owe all of that to you..thank you for being such a great Mom and raising such a beautiful little princess!!
Posted by Nanny | December 12, 2009, 12:23