I have a new irk with this district school board. I don't know if it's just with this school board, or if it's an Ontario thing or maybe even a national issue, but I'm a bit frustrated tonight.
Stephen brought home a permission slip to be signed to let him go ice skating one day this week and one day next week. I guess, from what I've been told, each class gets to have two hours of skating time at a local rink as part of their physical education program. What a great idea, I thought! Then I realized that we had to come up with a pair of ice skates, a helmet and some experience for our son!
If we would have been back home in Doylestown, Ohio, that would have been no big deal since we had a LAKE (Mom, it wasn't just a swamp to us!) behind our house and ice skating was a norm in the winter. But here we are, living in a city with only ice skating rinks to go to that you also have to pay to use. The school kids get to go for free on these two days a year, but they have to have their own skates! As a family, we have not gone ice skating since we don't have skates for everyone, so Stephen has no skates, and no experience. We DO have a bike helmet, so we've got two out of the three requirements covered.
We were given a pair of very old, used skates for Stephen last year, but this year, he has grown and his skates no longer fit him. We had no other option today when he went, so the poor kid crammed his feet into a pair of size 12 skates when he really should have had size 13 ones instead! He has one more day of skating next week, and when I say "day" of skating, I simply mean an hour of skating, and I hate to have him jam his feet into that little pair of skates yet again. I know that other kids are very into hockey and skating around here, but we are not. We don't have the finances nor the time for it, and honestly, not a desire to get into hockey, so what are we supposed to do? While I thought that this was such a great opportunity for the boys to go skating with their class, I'm finding that it might become one of those thorns that I'd rather not have prick my children. I'm not about to go out and buy a pair of skates for my son just so that he can spend one or two hours a year on an ice skating rink. At the same time, I don't like the fact that my kid is going to be made fun of because he doesn't have skates and can't participate.
My opinion on all this may change over the years as my kids get older and more involved, but for now, I'm really irked with this event and wish that next Friday were over already so that Stephen doesn't have to go through this torture again. If any of you can explain the benefits of this program to me in greater detail, that might be helpful to get this bad taste out of my mouth. In the meantime, thanks for letting me vent.
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4 comments:
Too bad the "skate lady" in Warren isn't around there. We got many pairs of skates as you guys were growing up and skating on the frozen swamp. You sure did have fun. So sorry about your Canadian complaint, though. Are there any parents with outgrown skates you could use? Or do they have rentals there like they did at Kent State (or other places around here?) Hope things work out for you all.
We have some kids skates here. Come and get them. Maybe enough for all 3 boys, I'm not sure. Mar, check out the garage sales during the summer. We got 2 really good pair in Windsor one summer at a garage sale. 1 pr. was worn only once, then the kid out grew them. I think we paid $3 for them (Eddie Bauer skates)
Last year all Ron's kids got skates from U. Jeff so they don't need what we have here.
I agree, it's a lake, not a swamp!
and the "skate lady" died.
It was/is a swamp. Don't fool yourself. Maybe it's just because I fell in so many times to know the true depth of the giant mud puddle. However, it was still skating.
Oops. I accidentally omitted the word "fun" before skating.
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