Because I am a weather weenie.
Remember when you were a kid and you could go out without your coat and you didn't even care?
My mom used to have a FIT when we wanted to go out trick or treating and didn't want to wear a coat. She didn't understand that we wanted to display our costumes and didn't care if we were cold. (Didn't care? Ha. Didn't even notice.)
She didn't like us walking to school without a coat, or even riding the bus. I don't know if we just didn't feel the cold or??? but I was never bothered all that much by the cold as a kid.
Now, I usually wear TWO coats. I dress in layers, too. I peel them off and add them as necessary during the day. I have periods of physical activity while I'm working and living my regular day... setting up the program, putting things away, wandering here and there. I get warm. Then I get chilly. Then warm again. Hormonal activity. Fun, fun, fun.
My favorite time of the day is when I get into bed at night and snuggle up to my flax filled heat packs. I microwave them for a total of seven minutes, two at a time, redistributing the seeds each time. Heavenly.
Unless I get too warm and toss all my covers aside. And fall back asleep. And wake up freezing my noonies off.
It cracks me up to watch the kids I work with. When we go outside, some of them bring their coats, but by the time we get to the playground (a distance of about 100 feet or so) the coats are off and soon decorating the chain link fence between the blacktop and the bark.
Now MY kids don't leave their coats out because they're extremely responsible, and the ones who might forget are reminded by the other kids. We also bring in the coats that the kids from recess leave outside.
The lost and found is located in our cafeteria, so we bring them in and add them to the collection. So far this year, we have brought in 78 coats that did not belong to anyone in our program. 78 coats that didn't get left out overnight in the rain or snow, or over the weekend in the wind/rain.
There are a lot of really expensive ones in the mix, too. Brands that I can't afford for myself, let alone for a kid who would outgrow it in six months. Of course, I'm a Goodwill Hunter, so things are different for me.
I know that if I spent 100 bucks on a coat for one of my children and he or she didn't come home with it, though, I'd be at the school looking in the lost and found pretty darn fast.
It amazes me how much just... sits there.
I always tell the rare child who comes to search for his or her coat while I'm there that they shouldn't call it 'lost and found' they should just call it 'lost'.
Just before the holidays, the lost and found bin was brought to the weekly assembly for a few weeks and some of the huge collection was taken home by the owner.
Then, during the holidaze, the custodian bagged up what was left and took them to Goodwill.
You already can't even tell that it happened, though. There are probably 50 to 75 coats on the rack now.
So is it just me? Wouldn't you want to know where the hell your kid left his/her coat? Make them go get it and bring it home?
I wonder if when they get older the kids will be like me and be cold all the time except when they're hot.
:)
I don't love the constant temperature changes, and wonder when they'll pass. Took me forever to figure out that I was having hot flashes. I've heard them referred to as power surges, but they don't make me feel all that powerful, really.
Tami says it's too bad we can't harness that energy.
I have to agree with that.
I remember playing outside all summer long and not being bothered by our heat, either. Now I can't tolerate it. I remember hot flashes. If there's ever a reason to think you are going to suffer from spontaneous combustion, that's it! Also, one of my medications made me sweat like a waterfall. Now that I'm off, I just sweat like a normal person.
ReplyDeleteI'm a total weather weenie too. :D
ReplyDeleteIf it's snowy, I *love* it, but I like to stay in side with hot chocolate and blankets. Ha ha!
My son's name and phone number are in his coat, so if he lost it, he damn well better find it or somebody better call to tell me they have it. Yeah, winter coats aren't cheap, and I'd wonder why my son forgot his if he failed to bring it home.
What....an eye opener! I keep shaking my head.
ReplyDeleteThe kids probably tell mom that they looked and it wasn't there, when they never did. sighhhhhhhhhh
I packed one of those heat thingies for my trip to FL. If my feet get cold...I get cramps in them. :0(
(((hugs)))Pat
I'd be reaising hell too if my kids came home without a coat! Keep track of your shit!!
ReplyDeleteI'm a warm weather weenie too, love the heat.
A pink coat was on the ground at the intersection of our subdivision and the main road for months this winter. We saw it every time we left. For months. We figured it was dropped on the way home by some kid. Didn't the parents ever see it?
ReplyDeleteI think it is genetic with some kids. One time when I worked at a summer camp I had a girl who was constantly losing things. When her parents came to get her at the end of the week, I suggested they probably wanted to look through lost and found. A big flat bed truck full of stuff right outside our cabin. They nodded knowingly, oh yes, our Susie she loses things. Within 10 minutes they were back, the couldn't find the giant lost and found pile! I decided then it wasn't Susie's fault she couldn't find anything.
The only time Bugster forgot her coat at school, (it wasn't left on the playground but was in the room), was the day before Spring Break. When she went to the lost and found the day she went back to school, the coat was already gone. Someone else had taken it home. It was rather frustrating. We never did see it again.
ReplyDeleteOh. Well. They're the ones who have to look at themselves in the mirror, and whoever took it obviously felt they needed it more than Bugster. Thankfully, it was not the first year she'd used it, and it wasn't a super expensive coat. We don't do super expensive. :D