Senior
Slant...
by
Hilda Maston
News About the Other Library
I have just discovered a book that is
printed especially for bathroom readers. It’s
appropriately called just that, The Bathroom Reader.
I discovered it at a garage sale, and it
has been my “other library” companion ever since.
It’s chock-full of the most fascinating
short essays. Some of the things covered are: The Reel
Stuff, Mouthing Off, Word Plays, Translations,
Unfinished Masterpieces, Fads and Flops, Food for
Thought, Pop Science and a hundred more.
The publisher is The Bathrooms Reader’s
Institute, at PO Box 1117 Ashland, Oregon. If you can
find a copy (they put out a new one every year), you’ll
really enjoy reading it, even in the living room.
Grandma Watches a Small World
Car after car drives up to the big
building in the pre-dawn darkness. After they deliver
their precious cargo, they speed quickly away. Another
day is beginning at the daycare center.
I am fortunate to be living where I can
watch the play yard of this large, well-equipped center.
The fenced yard contains a slide, a boat, a little red
caboose and a large sandbox. Looking out my window I can
watch the little people who play there.
The day starts with the raising of the
flag. The children are all put in a line along the
fence, to be ready for the event. Oops! One child bolts.
Teacher gets him back in line just in time to apprehend
another deserter. She heads for the flagpole ...
Is the flag going up this time? Nope! Another kid breaks
rank and is soon joined by three more. Finally all are
back in line, the flag is raised, and the children are
finally free to run and play.
I’m convinced that these three- and
four-year-olds have developed some kind of social order,
but I haven’t figured out just how it works. For
instance, one little boy will start running in a circle
around the slide. In a few seconds, he’s joined by
another child, and then another until the whole group is
running around and around the slide.
How did this happen? No one gave them an
order, no one said; “Now we will run around the slide,”
but they all got the message from somewhere. On the
other hand, they often all run in different directions.
In their brightly colored clothes, they look like scraps
of confetti blown about by the wind. With the children
are the patient teachers, settling disputes, wiping
noses, and supplying hugs where needed.
I watch this miniature society function…
A little girl hugs a little boy. He
doesn’t like it, and struggles to get free. Two tots
want the same toy. The teacher steps in to mediate. A
big truck drives up, the children cluster along the
fence and wave until the driver gives them a noisy
greeting with his big horn. Then it’s back to play.
Often the children walk down to the nursing home to
visit “borrowed grandmothers.” The teachers have a
rope which the children hang onto as they walk safely
down the street. (It reminds me a little of “Soap on a
Rope”)
There are people who believe that daycare
is not good for children, but when I watch my happy,
healthy neighbors, I think these children do just fine.
