"You Won't Melt"

I lived my own preschool years in places that weren't built on former rain forests. It wasn't exactly like rain was a novelty, but it also wasn't the kind of day-after-day drizzle like we get for months on end in the Pacific Northwest. When the kids complained, however, mom would reply, "You're sweet, but you're not made of sugar. You won't melt." And it's true, no one has ever melted in the rain: rain makes things wet, perhaps slippery, but it only makes us miserable when we're out in it wearing the wrong clothing. 

I've been a "weather watcher" for most of my adult life: first because I was a baseball coach and now because I teach at a school that values outdoor play. Baseball is a sport rendered dangerous by rain, which is why games are cancelled due to the stuff, but school is a different matter. Aside from a few art projects that involve tissue paper, or science experiments that require, say, fire, there isn't much that rain can cancel, and it greatly enhances many other things.

Back when our cast iron water pump was a temporary installation, we, as a matter of course, wouldn't set it up in the rain, the adults assuming that the kids wouldn't dig on wet-on-wet play, but we were wrong. If anything, the pump becomes more popular when the kids are geared up for the weather.

Rain is not "nasty" or "bad" or "miserable" weather, but that's all too often how we adults speak of it amongst ourselves, accidentally "selling" our prejudices to our children. We hunker down, huddle up, worry about our hair, run for cover, and generally under-dress for it. We write children's books in which the characters are sad because it's raining and they can't go out to play. (Seriously, this is such a problem in storybooks: rain is either cause for boredom or despair, or if kids do play in it, they are somehow "naughty" and get scolded by parents. I'm always on the look out for books that either celebrate rain or treat it as a matter of course. If you know any titles, please leave them in the comments.) It's no wonder that some kids balk at the doorway when they see raindrops.

I suppose I'm thinking about rain because it's been awhile since we've seen any around here. These are typically our dry months and I do enjoy not having to wear a jacket every day. I like wearing sandals and short sleeves. And yes, I'll confess to taking some pleasure in the novelty of not feeling slightly damp all the time.

Yesterday, some of the kids were complaining it was too hot (it might have "soared" up to 70 by the end of our morning session) and too bright. Somehow it delighted me. When Silas complained to me, I consciously echoed mom's words, "You're sweet, but you're not ice cream. You won't melt."

And he answered, "I might."

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