Do you ever reminisce about when the most important part of our day was who got the best swing, or who got invited to play tag with the boys? We were too young to care about our outfit and too naive to care if we were liked. We just lived.
We ran until our little legs couldn’t give anymore. We colored as if our lives depended on it. We slept like the dead.
Our whole world was the playground, the center of our universe, the sole reason why we came to school.
We loved school because it gave us friends. It was pure, joyful, and gave us confidence.
We could have parties and family functions and it felt safe, like a place where we could grow with the people around us. And I think we all took advantage of that.
We may have only been seven, but still, if I could go back I would stop complaining about nap time and sleep on that cold hard floor in stride. I would take advantage of the ice cream we got on Fridays instead of complaining about how we only had it ON FRIDAYS!
Not to mention all the Christmas parties we had; I would get out there and dance it off to Kidz Bop and Katy Perry like it was my last day on Earth. Because who cared? It was elementary school and why not? All the teachers and parents would have thought it was cute and adorable and all my classmates would have joined in.
And lunches were AWESOME! We got to sit by all our best friends, ate what we wanted and however much we wanted. And if you were super cool, your parents would come and eat with you. That’s right, your parents would get you your street cred, especially if they ate with your friends too.
And if you went to one of those after school programs, like Alphabest you could do all that and more with your friends again after school. If you’re an OG like me you’ll know that that was the most wondrous place to be. There was snack time, two hour long recesses, hour long homework time (where you would really just sleep), and days where you would learn how to make lego robots and put on little plays.
On Fridays, if you had enough “starburst” or “Alphabest money” for doing good things, you could get treats like ring pops and crazy looking sunglasses. It’s another place, now that I’m older, that I see I took advantage of. I got to hang out with my friends without worrying if their schedules were going to line up or being too busy.
It was easy, and school was fun. But the older we get, the less we see that side of us in our school. Now we are constantly worrying if we are “good enough” for whoever we need approval from.
Schools stopped having class parties and students started becoming more and more distant with each other and resenting school. It’s sad, but it’s the way our system works, we miss the old things that we used to complain about.
We need to bring things like that back; we are at a time in which friends and making memories matter most. We’re growing but our priorities are the same…. to have fun.
I miss being able to interact with friends at Chritmas parties and being able to share this experience with them that I can look back on. And not how many assignments we worked on together.
It’s important for students to get to share this with each other and look forward to coming to school and seeing people they care about, and not just thinking about work they have to accomplish over THEIR next weekend!
Schools are a community and we need to start getting to know each other more than it being a “duty.”
