January 19, 2010

A little ice

When my kids were little, I went to the school picnics held in June. Sometimes I’d play games with the kids, and sometimes I’d sit in the shade and talk to the teachers and other parents who had volunteered to chaperone.

One time, I sat next to First Grade Teacher, a long-time teacher in the school. During the course of the day, I watched how she handled the kids who came up to her.

One little boy had fallen on the playground equipment and scraped his knee. “Here,” she said calmly, “Let me get you some ice.” His screaming stopped as soon as she put the ice in his hands.

Another little boy said that his stomach hurt. “Here,” she said calmly, “Let me get you some ice.”

A little girl complained that the other kids were being mean to her. “Here,” First Grade Teacher said calmly, “Let me get you some ice.”

It didn’t matter what the complaint was. The treatment was the same. First Grade Teacher would sit the child down on the bench, provide a handful of ice, and talk in a soothing voice.

This all-purpose treatment seemed to work. After a few minutes of sitting quietly, holding the ice, and listening to First Grade Teacher’s soothing voice, the child would jump up and run off happily.

“Is the ice magic?” I asked teasingly, after the fifth handful of ice had calmed down yet another small child.

“Yep,” First Grade Teacher said. “And luckily, it’s cheap.”

She cast a watchful eye on the kids climbing about on the playground. “Most of the time, they aren’t hurt. They just need a little attention.”

I think First Grade Teacher retired a few years back, but I think of her every time I get an icepack out of the freezer and hand it to one of the little neighbor kids.

9 comments:

Donna's chitchat said...

Ice is truly magical. I work in an elementary school and ice is the answer to ALL injuries. We have a special needs man who comes in every Wednesday to do some odd jobs and one of his jobs is to "make ice". We buy little 1 lb candy bags and he puts one ice cube in each bag, ties a knot, wraps it in pre cut paper towel and then put it in a bucket in the freezer. I buy those 1 lb candy bags and last year for fun, I kept track. We used 1200 ice bags.
Sometimes kids want ice for no reason.... and some days I have quite a battle with some kids...
I have a funny story about one particular day
http://peterssm.blogspot.com/2008/02/blog-hopping.html (a bit long, sorry)

Anjali said...

We do the exact same thing. And it works every time!

Digger said...

I love this, Jo(e). Thanks!

Yankee, Transferred said...

How wonderful.

Jennifer said...

For my son it's cold water. Whenever my 2 year old gets hurt in the house, the 5 year old runs to get him a cup of cold water.

YourFireAnt said...

Band-aids work too. Even on stomachaches.

Magpie said...

Reminds me of going to the college infirmary where, no matter the complaint, you got a little envelope of salt and baking soda to gargle with.

kathy a. said...

i primarily used bandaids, myself, but ice is good -- better, even, depending on the situation.

Mary said...

When my daughter was a toddler, she fell and cut her lip. We took her to the freezer on the bottom refrigerator in the kitchen for ice to pop in her mouth. After than she became self healing. Just went to the kitchen frig and put ice in her mouth.

Of course we did not whether that would be enough treatment....... but it even cured skinned knees