Good deed for the day......

Phew! I volunteered as a "parent helper" for year one's trip to Blackpool Tower yesterday. I was "leader" of five kids - including one of my own. They all had packed lunches in named carrier bags and soon removed their school sweatshirts due to it being so hot - so I had to carry them round all day in a yellow toxic waste bag!
The bumpy ride on the double decker bus had me nauseous before we even arrived at the tower! And the random conversations with other people's kids! Mind boggling! Punctuated by "I'm hot!" "I'm cold!" "I'm thirsty" "I'm hungry""I need a wee!" Fifty overexcited kids all talking at the same time - I was exhausted by the time we got there. And don't kids fidget! They were pulling each others seat belts, smashing their packed lunches, taking their shoes off, screaming....

Once inside the tower I began to feel like a sheepdog! I was constantly head counting and rounding up wandering off children - and boy do they like to wander off! I've got a crick in my neck from looking over my shoulder to check they were all there. If I said "hold your partners hand!" once, I said it fifty times. It didn't help that there were twenty other schools on a trip there that day and half had the same uniform as our school!

The kids tore round Jungle Jims, bumped their heads, got friction burns on the plastic slides and generally had a great time, while me and another mum guarded the exits (yes a few tested the perimeter but I headed them off!). They then ate their sweaty squashed packed lunches and then we watched the superb circus - at least they were seated and couldn't wander off! Then we went to the top of the tower, one little girl was hysterical due to fear of heights so we swiftly went back down. The bus was waiting and I gratefully climbed aboard, only to find we were on the top deck! How wobbly and bumpy are buses "up top?" The journey back was torture with a rolling stomach - the kids loved it and chattered away relentlessly while I resorted to grunts and groans in answer to their many questions.
Still, the kids had a lovely time and no-one got lost (for long) or hurt (much) and they were still bursting with energy when we got back to school. Wouldn't it be great to bottle some of that?