And we talk about the kids

[DQDick]

We had a tour scheduled for two classes of 4th graders today at 10:15am. I was sure they would cancel since it was pouring rain, 40 degrees and the wind was blowing all morning. All of our tours are outdoors, we have one open air class room that holds one class at a time and everything else we do is out and about in the park. The teachers and classes showed up and insisted that they wanted the outdoor part of the tour. Luckily the rain changed to heavy snow and snowed several inches as we toured the park. The teachers claimed to have told the families to dress the kids warmly, but a number of them had on shorts and light jackets. One had no jacket at all. We suited them up with trash bags, but that was the best we could do. The head teacher was with me and twice I tried to get her to return to the bus, but she insisted we finish the majority of the tour. By the time they left many of the kids were freezing (literally) but the head teacher insisted it was a great field trip especially since several of the kids have never seen snow. The bus wasn't even out of the gate of the parking lot when the weight of the snow brought a full sized Palo Verde tree down right across the entrance to the Visitor Center where they had just loaded the kids on the bus. Between the teachers who thought a tour was a good idea and the parents who sent kids on a field trip in this weather wearing shorts you really have to wonder what this world is coming to. And let's don't forget the Education Director at our place who saw no reason to cancel the tour either.