Am I relieved or sad? It’s a question I’m asking myself today.
Today was supposed to be J’s sports day, his school have decided to hold it in September rather than next Summer?!?!
Anyway due to the rain it’s been cancelled but I’m not sure if I’m sad or relieved. Last year at J’s sports day/carnival he struggled with most of the events but the school had a few children who like J had additional needs and at the end of the day they put all of these children in their own running race to give them a fair chance at winning a ribbon. J came joint third and was very proud of himself. Had he been racing against the other children in his class that didn’t have any additional needs this probably wouldn’t have happened. J loves running and jumping, in fact he has great difficulty staying still, however the only time he is ever able to run fast is when he’s trying to escape. This presents 2 problems, the first being that he would struggle to keep up with the other children and the second being, J does not like to lose.
This year J tells us that he is to compete in the 50m hurdles and a relay race. So I’m not sure if I’m relieved or sad that it’s been cancelled. Relieved because if he doesn’t come 1st, 2nd or 3rd, I don’t know how he will react. I know he’ll be upset, 1st, 2nd and 3rd place children will receive a gold, silver or bronze award and I know he’d be gutted if he didn’t receive one of those. But I’m sad because we won’t get to cheer him on, we won’t be able to get it all over and done with and we won’t get to celebrate him doing his best (I have our own certificate all ready to print, just in case he doesn’t get an award/certificate).
I know it’s great to celebrate our children winning but what about all of those other children? The children whom despite trying their absolute best they just can’t keep up with the rest of the children, the ones that never win the gold silver or bronze. I wonder how they feel when their efforts don’t get rewarded and how much of a bashing their confidence takes. Why can’t schools celebrate the effort of all the children, even a small gesture such as a certificate congratulating them on their efforts would be appreciated.
