Playground owie

Kendra had her first playground incident of the school year on Friday at recess.  Actually, we really don't have a playground.  There is a TEENY TINY little playset on the other side of the school, but it is reserved for the teeny tiny kiddos.  When we moved here and I first saw the school, I remember one of the first things I thought was, "Where is the playground?"  Apparently, some years ago, they decided that schools around here didn't need playgrounds.  Something about having kids use their imaginations outside instead of providing entertainment for them.  Uh huh.  Colleen's translation:  teachers, please spend more of your own money on playground equipment so the kids have something to do.  I have, indeed, spent my own money on a pretty decent amount of balls, including a football, soccer ball, several basketballs (thank goodness for garage sales!) and tennis balls which the kids love for playing wall ball.   Ok, sorry for griping, on with the story...

So my kiddos play outside on an area that has a pretty large open grassy area and then a big blacktop area with one basketball hoop.  We also have a nice covered pavilion area with four steel picnic style tables, and that is where the teachers usually congregate while watching the kids play.  I was sitting and chatting with a few kiddos on Friday when I turned my head at the exact moment that Kendra took a huge spill on the blacktop (which has a fine coat of gravel on top of it due to weathering of the blacktop material).  She wasn't even running...her feet just slid out from under her on the gravel.  She went down in a big ole splat!

Now here's where I'm not sure being her teacher was a good thing or a bad thing.  Kendra is super brave in public--she really hates to cry in front of people.  But this fall resulted in some nasty scrapes, and that combined with her MOMMY being out there resulted in some tears.  I helped her up and walked her over to sit on a picnic table seat, and immediately saw that she was bleeding from several places and needed the attention of our nurse.  Her friend, K, offered to take her down to the office.   Here is the bandaged up girl last night at home: 

I did ask Kendra later if she felt it was better or worse to have me as a teacher in a moment like that.  She said she was super glad I was there because it made her feel better, even if it did make her cry!