Slip Sliding Away

"How can you put up with that?" she asked as she rolled her eyes up into her head. "With what?" I answered and smiled knowingly. "That" she gestured to the back deck. And of course I knew exactly what she was talking about and still I found her question amusing. The idea that I was "putting up" with something was humorous to me. Was I putting up with it or was I just letting it happen? It all started when Zachary asked for a bunch of boys to come over and jump on the tramp after school. Fine.
It all started to change when I was on the phone with my sister and noticed that the trampoline seemed to be floating across the yard. "Where are you going with that?" "To the deck so we can jump off the deck onto it." And I paused. What did I think of this? What were the inherent dangers that lurked...outside of the already present danger of allowing all of these kids on the tramp to begin with? I know, I know, I am crazy because of the liability issue, but honestly I would rather have them here with some supervision as opposed to downtown with no supervision at all. I was going to have to bend...just a bit. I swallowed hard and thought to myself that it did look like fun, but suggested they put it on the lower end of the deck. It was all fun and games as they took turns one by one to jump off the deck and down two feet the the trampoline.
But one knows that when you get a group of boys together the anti must always be raised. The sheer height was not enough and Zachary screamed with glee as he came up with his next idea. "Let's get the slip and slide and slide off the deck onto the tramp!" Before I could say no a little bit of me smiled inside. This was the kind of experimentation and wonder that I loved to see in the eyes of my students in my classroom. Granted, there were no major dangerous things involved, but it was the sense of experimentation that I was secretly revelling in. They found no slip and slide, but easily replaced it with an enormous blue tarp that they proceeded to duct tape to the deck and down over the slipping side. After their teamwork seemed to pay off they all stripped down to their underwear and began the fun. Only it was not slippery. No worries though...they would figure that out too.
In a moment of despair I knew I had to go and pick up Emma. I told them I would be back in 5 minutes and to be extra careful while I was gone. Stupid me looked at the dish soap as I walked at the door knowing exactly what I would return to.
The screams of sheer joy were echoing from the backyard and as I walked into the kitchen I saw suds EVERYWHERE!! Suds on the deck, suds on the kids, suds on the tarp and so many suds on the tramp it appeared to be white. They were slipping and sliding their way to sheer joyous heaven. It was at this point that Emma posed this question that I had no answer for. In one way I was worried someone was going to get hurt. It was the perfect recipe for disaster. On the other hand I had to smile as I went to get my camera and record some of their good clean fun.
So, why would I allow such a thing? Such a mess? Such a risk? And all that I can come up with even this morning is that it is definitely not something that my mother EVER would have let me do. It would have been too messy if nothing else, and yet, as one of the kids left with his mother I heard him say, "This was the best day of summer ever!" And who was I to remind him that they were in school. This is something that Zachary will never forget. It was free. It was fun and all in all a bit dangerous...the perfect recipe for a bunch of boys with too much energy and imagination for their own good.