Preschool Jail Time

 

This is a picture of me doing jail time. Yes, it was a playground jail. Anyone who has played with preschoolers knows that the rules are fluid, and it's easy to error on the wrong side. As for me, I was sent to jail.

 

Here’s my side of the story. My granddaughter and I had the playground to ourselves and after a rousing game of tag, we were playing follow the leader.

 

That is when things went awry. Watch out when following pint-sized leaders. I diligently went up the ladder to a platform with three different sized slides. She chose the little one—and as follow the leader directs, I had to go down the little slide. Unfortunately, I didn’t duck my head low enough to miss the metal bar at the top.

 

“Ouch!” I muttered as I slid down to the bottom. My granddaughter was sensitive to my pain but insisted we do it again. 

 

This is when I got in trouble. Once we were back in place to slide down—I didn’t follow the leader. Instead, I chose the bigger slide. Arriving at the bottom, having taken the wrong slide, I received the full scorn a four-year-old can expertly deliver.

 

Hence, my jail time. This was all pretend—at least in my perspective. My preschool jailer was as serious as her scowl and folded arms could be. 


Once I was jailed, I thought about how quickly things can also escalate in my grownup world. Sometimes it’s my testy tone of voice, or my unfair expectations placed on someone who can’t use a “small slide”. Maybe my jail time was serving its intended purpose—giving me a time out to think about things.

 


 

I watched my granddaughter across the playground trying to have fun on her own. It didn’t take long for my jailer to come and release me. It was as if my infraction never happened.

 

And maybe that was my most important lesson: I need to recapture a four-year-old’s ability to quickly forgive and forget. Life is more enjoyable that way.


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