Well that was a first...

I sent my assistant out to the playground with my kids this afternoon while I checked ID and showed a grandparent how to sign a child out in the book.

It wasn't more than a minute before I was outside, too. And saw Jim* and Molly* throwing something.

The rules say that the kids aren't supposed to pick up anything from the ground. School rules. My rules, too.

So when I hollered at them within four steps of coming out the door, they looked guilty. Caught.

I called them over to me.

"What were you throwing?"

Shuffled feet, downcast eyes.
They looked at each other. Then, back at me.
"Rocks," they said together.
"And what in the world made you think that was a good idea? You didn't hit anyone, but Alden and Steve were sitting right there! What if you'd hit one of them?"

Molly looked at me defiantly. "Well, we didn't hit anything."
Jim tried to pretend like he didn't know it was against the rules to throw rocks. "I've never heard the rule before," he said. "No one ever told me that."

It was all I could do to keep from yelling, "BULLSHIT!"

"Jim, this is your second year in my program. You know not to throw ANYTHING. We have to go back to the principal rule here... if Mr. Smith were standing out here, would you have thrown rocks?"

He looked sheepish. But he tried again. "Well, I didn't know. No one ever told me that rule."

He said it in a snotty tone of voice, and Molly helped him along by telling me loudly, "It's not fayerrr!!! We didn't even hurt anyone!" She glared at me angrily and stomped a foot.

"And since you guys chose to argue with me and pretend like you don't know the rules, you can go ahead and have a seat here for a few minutes."

I intended to let them get up after allowing them to sit and think about what they'd done and giving them another mini-lecture, but they decided to be all pissed off and blame me because they got in trouble. They sat and muttered, Molly wiping away angry tears.

When a couple kids came over to find out why they weren't playing, Molly said, "Because Susan won't let us."

"Yeah," Jim said. "It's not fair."

"Your choice to throw rocks is what landed you over here, guys. You know that. Doesn't matter what you tell everyone else, you're sitting here because you made a crummy choice. It's not a great idea on any level, but you're also setting a terrible example for the rest of the kids. Don't make the mistake of blaming me for what you did."

His mom came to get him a couple minutes later and I heard her asking why he'd been sitting instead of playing. I don't know what he told her. It will be interesting to find out.

It's amazing to me that I haven't had to bust any of 'my' kids for throwing rocks before. I have had it happen at breaktime programs, but not in my own. I hope I won't have it again. Glad they didn't hit anyone. The weasels.