Snow Mean

Well it is officially the second week of Christmas vacation around here, which means it is the second week now that "big kids" have been in daycare. I am very much looking forward to next week when school resumes!

Today, most of the older kids asked to go outside. About 10 minutes later, another boy came upstairs and asked if he could go outside. I said, "Sure", and he walked away, but then came back 2 minutes later.

He said, "I can't find any boots to wear."

I asked if he brought his, he said no.

So I said, "Well, you can't go outside without boots, snow pants, a coat, hat & gloves."

He responded by saying that he had planned to use Cameron's, but one of the other kids who also didn't bring any boots was already wearing Cameron's.

I said, "That's too bad, you'll have to wait until he comes back in."

He said, "Well, he'll probably stay out there the whole time."

I said, "He might." At which point, I think he finally started to realize that I really didn't care.

My question today is this: How does it become my problem when the kids don't bring their boots & snow pants? They all know the rules, they are the exact same rules that the school has for playing outside. I'm pretty sure the school does not have dozens of boots & snow pants on hand to loan out to the kids who don't bring those items to school. So why do the kids think that I should have a bunch of extras?

And besides, this is winter…in Minnesota. And even if you haven't lived her all your life, there is snow on the ground right now, and it has been there for weeks. Why would you not bring snow pants & boots to daycare if you thought you might want to play outside at some point??

Oh well, I'm just a big meanie anyway. When they asked to go outside for the third time…after I had gone into the porch to find all of their coats, hats & snow pants thrown on the floor, I said that nobody was going out for the rest of the day, because I have enough to do around here without having to go behind them picking up their stuff!