What I've learned in middle school...

As most of you know, I've spent this year working as an athletic trainer at the middle school level. This has been an educational experience both professionally and personally.

Professionally I've learned how to handle injuries in a whole new age group... most kids at the middle school level have never been injured before aside from the scrapes that every kid obtains in childhood. That being the case, there are many (not all, but I'll lean twoards most), who significantly overreact to injuries. A kid strains his hamstring (a muscle in the back of the leg) and suddenly he loses all ability to move his leg or even flex the muscles (a fascinating conundrum, considering the numerous other muscles in the leg that should be able to compensate to some degree). I've also discovered that I'm a miracle healer! Sometimes a kid will be in "excruciating pain" and I'll hand them a bag of ice and tell them ice for 15 min and I'll continue my assessmentand I get this conversation:

"But I'll miss the end of the game."
"You just told me your pain is an 8/10 on the pain scale. Depending on the severity of your injury, you may not play again this week." (this is an exaggeration, but the healing power of these words is amazing!)
They take on a considering expression for a moment and then sort of hop around a bit...
"Actually, I think I'm ok."
"Are you sure"
Jumping around some more.
"Yeah! I'm totally good!"
They head back out onto the field a few minutes later and run around as though nothing ever happened.

Amazing, right?!?! Kids are resilient... the momentary pain tends to scare them into thinking it's worse, so I've learned to just wait a couple of minutes before truly assessing the situation.

The personal lesson I've learned has to do with the middle school age group as people... and their parents. First of all, are kids growing taller earlier these days? We've got a 6th grader (mind you, this mean's he's 11 years old!!!) who is over 6 feet tall!!!! I feel small working at a middle school! Who knew?!

As far as parenting is concerned, is it me, or has it become much more... lax? I have multiple athletes (remember, 11-13 years old) with tattoos!!! I've got some who are literally covered in them!!! Why does a 12 year old have tats?! I know a parent had to sign off on those things! Kids are also total potty-mouths... I was out at practice lately, and some boys were having a conversation that relied heavily on the use of the f*bomb every other word. I didn't cuss until I was in high school, and even then, I didn't cuss around my mom until I was in college because I respected adults too much to be foul-mouthed around them! Seriously parents, I know it's considered passé to spank a child or whatever, but you are the adult. Step up and make it clear to your kid that they aren't adults yet. This is why kids are off having sex at 10 flippin' years old!!!