Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Keeping Up


Here are some of the irises in our garden. I love them. We have clumps growing all over the garden in lots of different shades, but this is my favourite. Apparently they do better if you split them up every year. These have never been split in 8 years and don't seem to be doing too badly.
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Today was Sports Day in school. I have never liked this annual event, either as a participant, mother or member of staff. But today I finally understood the importance of it. Not all children are able to excel in the class room and for some, it becomes a daily torture and struggle just to keep up. I saw at least 4 of the children run today who are really never going to shine academically, they have trouble reading, writing and doing maths. But today, these children took part and loved it. They ran for all they were worth and each won their races. The look of delight on their faces was a lovely thing to behold. It was a case of 'look at me, see, I can do something well'.
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I have always felt sorry for those children who didn't want to take part (indeed I was one of them), thinking it was cruel and unnecessary to put them through it all. But not today. So many children feel like that every day in school, unable to succeed and so very much out of their depth. These 4 have changed my mind. You were stars today - you didn't brag or boast, you were happy just to have crossed the line ahead of the field for once.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh I really really agree with you. I'm so pleased there is someone else out there who thinks Sports Day is probably a lifeline for little people who struggle with their brains every day. Everybody deserves to be top of the class at something.

P.S. Lovely blog - I have only just found it but I will defnitely be back.