Miss Thompson's Jefferson preschool class discovered quite a surprise last Friday while on a field trip to a local cemetery. It seems that the field trip was set up as an exercise in promoting discussion about the finite nature of life between the instructors and the children.
The youngsters all gathered in the morning at the grade school, and jumped on a bus headed out to view historical spots throughout Greene County. All went fine until they arrived at a well-known local cemetery, where the kids were allowed to wander, somewhat on their own.
While
Miss Thompson was engaged in a discussion of life with some of her
charges, a few of the children happened to stumble upon a monument which
left them highly distraught, to say the least. This occurred shortly
after the teacher's discourse declaring that nobody in the cemetery
could possibly come back
to life
again.The monument in question was clearly marked "Santa Claus", and the preschoolers rightly took this to mean that Santa was dead and could no longer deliver his presents at Christmas.
To make matters worse, it implied that Santa had been horribly mangled in an elevator accident, and left absolutely no descendants whatsoever. The children obviously needed a quick explanation if for no other reason to calm them down.
Miss Thompson informed them that Santa was not only dead and buried, but that for the last several hundred years, their folks have been responsible for covering this up and have been secretly leaving toys by the tree every Christmas instead of being honest with them. This allowed the children to deflect their anger toward their parents and away from the school board.
submitted by Rick Bland, editorial contributor