Please don't remove the Name Tag

Yesterday when John went to the school to pick up Keith and Mary, they only presented him with Mary. (Um...didn't I order TWO???) After a bit of scrambling, the teachers/adults involved found Keith. Apparently, his teacher sent him and another child with an adult helper (or whoever). One child was supposed to go to after-school care (those children are shuttled to a different school) and of course, Keith was supposed to go to the cafeteria--which is the parent pick-up spot. I don't know how it got confused, but Keith was found playing on the playground--with all the other after-school care kids.

Whew!

The first two weeks of school kindergartners wear NAME TAGS which also announce their am/pm status, HOW they're getting to school (bus, drop off, whatever) and HOW they're leaving (bus, pick-up, after-school care). I did remember to put Keith's name tag on yesterday morning, but for some reason, he wasn't wearing it. Hence, the reason he got "lost." (Oh, he wasn't really "lost!" See, we found him! He was just right there!) But, if John had been even a few minutes late, good grief! The kid would have been on the shuttle to the Y program half-way to the other elementary school. How fun to track him down THEN!

When questioned, my son said that "a teacher" took his name tag off. Poor little guy couldn't remember who or when, but he finally surmised that it was at the day care center that morning. I did check with the center this morning, but there was no name tag there, and they swore that they didn't remove it ("I remember it being on him when I put him on the bus!"). Not that I was being accusatory or anything, I just needed to FIND it. 'Cause now that he doesn't have it for another day, who knows if he'll make it to the right pick-up place?!

And how nice to know how much my kids pay attention to us. No big deal on the five-year old. I can't really expect too much of him, I know. But the seven-year old? How many times I explained the pick-up procedure and how she needed to find her brother in the cafeteria at the end of the day? And good grief--she couldn't mention to a teacher that "Gee, I don't see my brother here?"

Oh well, she's not her brother's keeper, I guess.