The Merry-Go-Round

Okay, so you know that I grew up in Montana.

But did you know that I went to a rural school that had approximately 16-20 kids in the entire school?

That is, the entire school that spanned 1st thru 8th grade?

The only other person in my GRADE was Howard Reichle. Oh, how I hated Howard. He was always better at math than I was. Plus, his little sister (one year younger than me) was snooty and always ran away to play with other kids.

Those Reichles. Horrible people.

The first fight I ever got in was with Howard. It was in the school "library" - which was little more than a glorified hallway that connected the two rooms that housed 1st -5th graders and 6th -8th graders.

All I really remember was that when he hit me, I actually did see red. I was so mad. Ooooo, I was pissed. I bet my pigtails stuck straight out on each side of my head.

Anyway, when I went home to Montana this summer, I (and my sister) took my girls up to the old school. It still has almost all of the same playground equipment. The picture below was the absolute coolest piece of playground equipment ever........then.

It is a merry-go-round that also had the ability to tip up and down, banging on the center pole. When the entire school would climb aboard this thing, splitting onto two teams as if by magic, we could go back and forth - banging the center pole so hard that many times a few of the smaller kids would even fly off.

You may have noticed that I said it was the coolest then. That is because they have now dumbed down this merry-go-round by attaching chains to it so that it can no longer go back and forth and bang the pole.

What the hell is the use of that?

They might as well have just tore it down.

That? What they did to the merry-go-round of my youth? That is exactly what is wrong with kids today.

Protected and coddled. Chained to avoid any "banging".

I'm telling you right now that I would rather have my kids thrown off the crazy, banging merry-go-round of life than just safely riding until they are so dizzy that all they want to do is throw up.