Okay, please tell me I'm not overreacting...I come into work, sipping my coffee as I read my emails, and I receive one from the kitchen staff asking for an updated list of children who are lactose intolerant because ONLY MILK IS BEING SERVED AT LUNCH.
This is to try and stop the water bottle flipping craze going throughout the 7th and 8th grades....there has yet to be anything done besides the simple "Stop doing that" when students flip water bottles...no lost recess, no punishment, no nothing.
Instead, the kitchen staff and the principal have decided that no one gets water provided at lunch for the next few days. No families were notified. We are a PK-8th grade and I know a lot of families are going to be very upset over this. It just doesn't make sense to me. Am I overreacting?
(Nevermind the fact that there are several other reasons besides being lactose intolerant for a child to need water at lunch, but don't get me started on that.)
I remember, way back when, string tricks were the rage. Cat's cradle, Jacob's ladder, Indian door. I loved them and became very skilled.
We would get string from the teachers for a while. Then administration banned string games. They banned string. They became repressive.
It was a wholesome activity. It was a rich part of the unique culture of children, passed from one child to another, and somehow largely lost in adulthood.
I did teach the string tricks to all of my kids. I hope they are still alive somewhere in the world.
This does not describe bottle flipping. This was born in the pits of hell and unleashed for the destruction of us all!
Our principal has developed a fun new game in response to bottle flipping. It's called how many flipping bottles can I catch?! He has a daily display of the confiscated water bottles in the office, 23 yesterday! He's gotten quite good at sneaking up and catching the bottle mid-flip
After they banned the strings, a new fad arose, Click Clacks. They were quite annoying to adults, and were also eventually banned.
They should have tolerated the string games.
I remember these, but down here they were called "Knockers." The would leave hellatious bruises on your forearms. My parents loathed the day I talked them into letting me have some.
Every year it's something. Last year eraser burns were all the rage at the middle school. I have the little ones pk-4. Our kiddos can carry water bottles and refill them. I make the teachers give water before sending headaches to me unless they are prior MD diagnosed. Nobody puts up with the flipping and we really don't have any issue with it.
I have become quite good at bottle flipping myself. I don't have a problem with kids doing this. At least they aren't on their phone, poking away at a tablet screen or playing video games constantly. They could be doing worse things than flipping bottles.
To the parent complaining about your 6th grade son who stares at his phone too much: spend 5 minutes with him flipping a water bottle and you'll wish he'd go back to his phone staring at Lord knows what for hours a day.
Our teachers have threatened the lives of kids who flip water bottles. In sheer desperation, they arrive in my clinic in complete withdrawal and begin flipping my tiny dixie cups and jars of cotton-tip applicators. It's sad. I need to start a 12-step FA program (Flippers Anon).
MrNurse(x2), ADN
2,558 Posts
This does not describe bottle flipping. This was born in the pits of hell and unleashed for the destruction of us all!