The gap between logic and reality
Logic is meant to help. Its purpose in life is to organise, categorise and predict. If 'A' then 'B'. That sense of order should instill calm and clarity. Except that sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it leads to intense irritation and frustration.
School, for the junior recipe testers, can be fraught with difficulty. There was recently a long and overly involved discussion, protracted over a length of time well beyond my ability to maintain enthusiasm for the topic, regarding the injustices foisted upon young people whilst they are engaged at institutions of learning. Lunch time is particularly unjust, apparently.
When a junior recipe tester leaves the classroom at lunchtime, I was informed, that junior may feel cold and decide to wear their jumper. If, however, during the lunch break, that same junior should start to feel hot, they may decide to remove their jumper. All perfectly straightforward to this point. Logic intact.
The travesty occurs when that same junior does not wish to carry their jumper around. It is forbidden to return to the classroom to deposit the offending article of clothing.
For one of my junior recipe testers, this constitutes just one in a long list of major infringement of her human rights, inflicted upon her by the formal education system. My feeble suggestions for how the situation might be remedied (putting one's jumper down on the ground while playing) were met with extraordinary disdain (my jumper will get grassy).
It was time for a logical argument. We spent some considerable time formulating a plan. We brainstormed solutions. Look, we stopped short of a whiteboard, but you get the idea.
After much gnashing of teeth (mine, not hers), we considered the possibility of her asking a teacher on playground duty if she could put her jumper with her school bag. This avoided the inability to go back to the classroom, which was out of bounds, but also circumvented the grassy jumper issue.
The logic was sound. The option was robust. There was general agreement and bipartisan support for the plan. I secretly congratulated myself on parenting well done.
It was when she was leaving our discussion that the junior casually mentioned she never wore her jumper when leaving the classroom to go out to play at lunchtime. In case she got hot.