Run-A-Thon Day

It is Run-A-Thon day as my children's school today. LargeBoy is in 8th grade and gets to count laps this year. Oh, he still has to run, but he intends to walk it. Girl's goal this year is to do 40 laps, and SmallBoy hopes for 24. For those of you unfamiliar with this event, the children have 15 minutes to run around the gym and get in as many laps as possible. It is, of course, a fundraiser, but the kids love it - well, most do.

Run-A-Thon Day is an out of uniform day for the students - well, sort of. They do not have to wear the required uniform, but need to dress appropriately for running around the gym. SmallBoy's teacher told them to be sure to wear shorts for running today. He thought that was the best thing since sliced bread. As we do live in the midwest and we only have 2 seasons, Winter & Summer, the weather is still relatively cold at the end of April. Last night I discussed with SmallBoy that he should wear his sweatpants over his shorts to school so that his legs would stay warm until the Run-A-thon. That was a GREAT IDEA. That was last night.

This morning we began our usual morning routine: 1) wake up, 2) get dressed 3) put on shoes and socks. As we reached 3/12, Kiss Mom goodbye, I noticed that he had his shorts on and was beginning to put on his shoes. I asked him why he didn't have his sweat pants on. That was a mistake. That lead to a meltdown precisely at the moment that I needed to be walking out the door. I explained to him that we had discussed last night how he should wear his clothes and that last night it was ok with him. I gave him the example that this was one of those times he needed to be flexible. We've been trying to use key words like flexible to help him be less rigid. Girl was a big help when she stepped in and showed him that she, too, was wearing her shorts under her sweats. We discussed that if the weather had been warmer, that perhaps he could have just worn the shorts without the sweats, but, as it was, it was cold, cloudy, and damp, and that required the sweats. This meant that he needed to be flexible just as the weather was being flexible. He seemed to chill out after that. I gave him a big kiss, wished him luck, and left for work.

PC has not called me to tell me that things were rough later, so I'm assuming all went well and that the focus then turned back to the Run-A-Thon. I really hope he makes his goal!