School Daze Chapter 5

Once a week our team of teachers meets with the counselors to talk about "student concerns". We share anecdotes and observations of the sixth graders in our class, comparing notes to see if there is some sort of support we might add. To be honest, since kids are, well, kids, some of the stories can be rather hilarious, some are heart-breaking, and some leave us kind of scratching our heads.

Today, for example, the counselor reported that she received a note from a student who was alarmed because another boy had threatened to "kick him in the shins" if he didn't stop singing some annoying song.

That story me with so many questions! Who was the threatener? What song was soooo annoying? And what sixth grader even knows what a shin is?

"Shin" seems a little old-fashioned to me. Most of the kids I know just go with the generic term, "leg" when referring to any part of that lower extremity. My dad used to say "shin," when I was a kid, and I think I even have a vague recollection of him talking about kicks in the shin. And wasn't there an old joke, a parody of a cheer, really, that went something like,

Ra ra ree! 
Kick 'em in the knee! 
Ra ra rin! 
Kick 'em in the shin! 
Ra ra rass... 
Kick 'em in the other shin!

Maybe he was singing that!