That Sidewalk Is So Clean You Could Eat Off It

I don’t recall exactly why I recently taught the kiddies the 5-second rule (and yes, I saw the article that the 5-second rule isn't true, but I don't believe it). I probably told them so that if they ever saw someone drop something and then pick it up and eat it, they wouldn’t launch into their typical detailed lectures regurgitating ever reason I’ve ever given them for not eating off the floor. Today, apparently, it came in handy.

I was instructed to send in 12 undecorated cupcakes for Lauren’s spring party. If they had been frosted, I would have driven her to school, but they were unfrosted and such a small number, I figured that she could get them there on her own. I packed them into a small shoe box and sent her off on the bus.

Reports indicate that the trip on the bus was uneventful, but as Lauren was walking to her classroom, someone pushed her from behind and she bumped into a pole which knocked the cupcake box out of her hands and onto the ground, spilling out the cupcakes. Aislinn and another girl passing by helped Lauren get them back into the box. I never got a good answer about whether they all fell out, but at the end of this story Aislinn said “Don’t worry, Mom. I counted to five while we did it, so the cupcakes were still okay.”

I asked Lauren if she told her teacher that they had fallen, she said no. I asked how they looked, and they both shrugged, so I may be off the hook for future cupcake requests.

Programmatic Lessons Learned: Driving Lauren to school wouldn’t have avoided this incident, but taping the box shut might have. I’ll get a working group together to research this soon.