For the kids, it really is about the slide!

Once upon a time, I was 5 years old and in Kindergarten. It was a traditional Kindergarten room, with small tables and chairs, a chalkboard, and books. There were also a few kid toys: blocks, little cars, puzzles, and dolls. In one corner of the room there was a slide.

Learning the “rules” was a big part of kindergarten. If it is time for your class to go from one point to another, stand in line, one person behind the other, and be quiet. If you have something to say, raise your hand and wait for the teacher to call on you. If you have to go to the bathroom, raise your hand and wait for the teacher to call on you. If you have something really important to say or really have to pee, wiggle a lot, hold your arm up high, angle it towards the teacher, and shake it vigorously. That, and a few whines of “Teacher, teacher” almost always guaranteed a quick response. If you finish your work, sit and wait until the teacher says it is time for something else. If you need help with something, raise your hand and wait until the teacher calls on you. Don’t ask the other children for help or help another child. Raise your hand. Wait for the teacher. Rules were rules and you were expected to follow them. And, for the most part, I did. But, in one corner of the room there was a slide.

For some very good five- year-old reason, my goal that year was to slide down the slide while holding a doll. Doesn’t sound like much of a challenge but there was a rule that forbade sliding while holding a doll. I didn’t get it. It didn’t appear dangerous. Unlike hand-raising and line forming, it didn’t seem to add to the efficiency and order of classroom life. I thought that I could do it successfully. In fact, I had secretly practiced this skill at the park so I knew that I was physically capable of climbing up the ladder and sliding down the slide while holding a doll. Frequent attempts to grab the doll and bolt up the ladder were aborted by a very agile and quick Kindergarten teacher. My parents were no help; they were firm in their resolve for me to follow the rules.

Sometime during the year, I made it down the slide with the doll. As my consequence, I was banned from doll and slide use for a long, long, long, long time. I think my parents made me go to bed early that night. It’s been about sliding with dolls ever since. 

There is always one pressing question from the children after hearing this story; "Did you REALLY have a slide in your classroom?"  Here is my  kindergarten class picture-slide and all!