Today was my 13 year old’s last school Sports Day. For clarification, he is in Year 7, which is the last year of primary school in WA. I went, because I have been to every other Sports Day, and he wanted me there. I’m glad he still wants me around, so I take advantage of it while he still does. Plus, it’s a great day. The canteen serves muffins and cookies, the coffee van arrives, and we sit in our little parent groups on the side of the hill, cheering each other’s kids on, whatever faction. The kids are great at congratulating each other, and encouraging each other. But this story really starts on Sports Day 2010.
At the end of Sports Day, we have the presentations. Apart from the overall winning faction, each year level has a boy and girl champion and a runner-up boy and girl champion. These boy and girl champions and runners-up then represent the school at the big Interschool Carnival. So, on Sports Day we have marching down the oval, the events, trophy and medal presentations, photos of the champions, an ice-cream for each child, and we all go home happy. But 2010 was different. Our children witnessed an ugly event.
Everything was fine until we got to Year 4 girl champions. The winner and runner-up were announced. The runner-up – let’s call her Jane Doe – flounced up, refused to shake the teacher presenter’s hand and refused to allow the same teacher to put the medal around her neck. She protested about going to the podium for the photo, and turned her back, refusing to allow her photo to be taken. The children, parents and teachers were gobsmacked. Now, if that was my child, I would have done some flouncing of my own. I would have flounced up, removed the medal from my daughter’s grasp, and demanded it be given to the next highest points scorer. But there was no movement from the parental pack.
I’m sorry to say the story gets worse. The child threw the medal away on the way home from school. The P&C and the School Council asked that Jane not be allowed to go to Interschool. The school principal and deputies decided to give her another chance. After all, Jane’s mother had apologised (no, not Jane. Her mother).
Fast forward to 2011, today. It was a fabulous day filled with its usual spirit. Children who were obviously not athletic and lagged far far behind the others were cheered on to the finish line by children and parents. We collectively held our breath as the Year 5 girl champions were announced. Jane got runner-up again. She flounced up, but allowed the teacher to briefly shake her hand, and put the medal around her neck. She had her photo taken, but pouted with her hand on her hip. She removed the medal as she walked back to her seat and threw it on the ground. So here are my questions:
- Should this child be allowed to attend Interschool?
- Should she be allowed to compete next year?
- Why didn’t the teachers say something? When did they lose their power?
- Why does this child think her behaviour is acceptable?
- Why don’t her parents deal with it?
I try not to judge other parents. My kids aren’t perfect and I make mistakes. But seriously dude, you seem to have dropped the ball (pardon the pun) – you’re a bad parent, and you need to get your kid sorted before she faces the real world.
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