The Field Trip
My 7 yo was very excited about her upcoming field trip from school. On the weekend before the trip, she came to the shop… without the usual whining. After all, she was going to select the junk food to carry on the trip. Next item on her list? A sanitizer. She told me the school asked that every kid bring one to clean their hands before eating, but who really knows if that’s true? Anyways, I agreed. When we couldn’t find one in the shop, she suggested we check a medical store. Wow! She knows which shop sells what? I don’t like where this is headed… Her excitement mounted as D-Day approached. That in turn meant that I couldn’t resist telling to not go. “Why?”, she demanded. “What if you get lost?”, I countered. “C’mon”, she said dismissively, “I’ve been on these trips when I was younger and I came back then, didn’t I?”. “But you were also more obedient then”, I said. Silence. I’d won that round of banter. A rare victory, one I will savour. The night before, she didn’t sleep w