Annual Bike Parade

Every year in celebration of the Fourth of July, my school has a bike parade. The children bring their bikes to school all decorated. This creates confusion for my little ones. They don't want to leave their bikes outside in the parking lot. They want to ride it now and they're going to have a fit because they can't. At 9:30 I take my class out to the parking lot, along with other Level one classes ( 18 months to 2 years old ) and Level two ( 2 to 3 years old ). This is what the scene looks like.......

The parking lot has been blocked off and volunteers and a police officer have been strategically placed to keep the children from roaming. Level 3 ( 3 to 4 years old ) and Level 4 ( 4 to 5 years old ) are sitting on the island in the parking lot watching. Schoolers are running a watermelon, lemonade and a first aid stand. There are parents everywhere with their children. Basically its crazy.

Anyway, I take my class outside, help them find their bikes or parents whichever comes first. This year I was lucky, I had three friends. That's right, only three friends all day long! One of my friends is with his mom. No need to worry about him. I have two girls to watch. I get them on their bikes and we are off to parade. I had the two slowest riders in the world. One stops every few pushes of her feet and stops. I have to keep encouraging her to go. The other one is all over the place. I have to keep putting her back on track. We did one lap and I was ready to be done. It tooks about ten minutes to do one lap! On the second lap one of the girls mom shows up. I'm like " Yes! Only one to parade around! " . After a few words to the mother we take off.

My little charge sees her sister, gets excited and takes off in the wrong direction at full speed. I have to chase her down and turn her around. She decides she wants none of it and insists on going the other way. I try to persuade her to get off the bike and get lemonade. Who am I kidding! A 20 month old chosing a bike or lemonade. What do you think she's going to pick? That's right....The bike. Luckily she sees her sister get off her bike and she gets off too. We get lemonade and sit in the shade to enjoy. Did I fail to mention I'm hot and sweaty during all of this? Yuck! My little boy is sitting with us ( mom brought him over ). We are all content for a few minutes. Then I realize mom has left him so we had better go in before he realizes it. As we are on our way inside he indeed realizes his mom is gone. He cries all the way to our room. Poor guy. I finally get him calmed down and our day back to normal. All I can think is " Thank you for letting that be over. ".

This all happened in half an hour. You know what I remember about the five bike parades I've done? Being hot and sweaty, chaous and crying children. Is this thing supposed to be fun?