Just another recess

After lunch recess, the tattlers were in fine form.  They were excited to tell me in horrified tones that a boy had said, "the f word."

The accused is a sweet and pretty easy going boy and that seemed out of character, but nevertheless needed to be addressed.

I called him over to my desk.  His friend, an earnest and conscientious boy I trust implicitly, quickly intervened.

"Teacher," he said, eyes worried. "He did say the f word, but he said..." he dropped his voice to a stage whisper, "f-r-i-c-k."

"OK," I said.

I still talked to the accused.  I said, "A few students told me you said the f word.  I know you didn't say the really bad f word, but maybe you shouldn't say anything that sounds like it either so no one thinks you're saying a bad word."

He didn't have his mask on yet, having just walked in from recess and he has the best smile and he got a huge grin on his face (one thing Covid has robbed me of is seeing their smiles all day).  He dismissed my advice about word choice because he was too excited to tell me about recess.

"OK, OK," he said, barely able to contain his glee.  "But Teacher, have you ever wanted to know what it would feel like to get hit by a swing?"

I said, "Oh no, stay out of the way of kids swinging, you could get hurt."

He said, "But I always wanted to know what it would feel like.  I was chasing someone and I ran close to the swings and I got knocked over.  It was awesome!"

I restated my plea to stay away from the swings because he could get hurt but I could tell he was completely unconvinced.

I guess the next stop for that kid is the X Games.