Our school district offers running club to the elementary schools. It runs from Nov - mid March. During this time, our school has running club practice twice a week and then there are 4 races, usually against 3 or 4 other schools held at a city park. The kids at the races run 1.5 miles and compete against the other kids in their grade and gender. The top 8 boys for each grade get a 1st place, 2nd place, etc ribbon, and the girls get the same. All our kids participate in running club. Last year my son was in kindergarten and won two 1st place ribbons, a 6th place, and an 8th place. A ribbon for every race he participated in. My son has been very proud of these ribbons. He has kept them in a box in his room and still shows them to anyone that will look. He even brought them to a family reunion this summer (across country) to show all his aunts and uncles. Running club is back in full force this year and just last Friday, he participated in a 1 mile race sponsored by a neighboring city. So he had his ribbons back out. Yesterday he took them to school to show his running coach/P.E. teacher. I cautioned him about doing so, and I realize now I should have just forbid it. He had them in his desk at school and a boy in his class kept begging him to give him his ribbons. He kept offering to give him something in return, but my son told him no. He left his desk to go to stations in his classroom, and when he got back to his desk, his ribbons were gone. Now I have no idea if that same boy took them, but it does seem suspicious. We are both pretty upset about this. I had visions of keeping these kindergarten ribbons until he had kids and could show them to his kids. They are just really sentimental to me and he is really proud of them. He doesn't play in any other sports (our custody schedule with his father that lives 3 hours away, pretty much prevents it). So this was "his" thing. He told his teacher what had happened but it was the end of the day when everyone was packing up. She did ask that particular boy about them, but he said he didn't take them. She also asked the entire class if they've seen them, and no one spoke up. Is there anything I can do? Do I just let it go and hope they resurface? I know they are "just" ribbons, but it still makes me sad they are gone.
Thanks for all the replies. The gift card idea is a good one. I'll keep that in my back pocket for future. Actually, when I came to running club after school today, I was told that the ribbons "turned up" this morning. And coincidentally, the boy mentioned above was the one who "found" them. If I was a betting girl, I'd say he brought them home, his parents discovered them, and demanded he bring them back to the rightful owner. I could be wrong though. I'm just delighted they are back and they will stay home from now on!
I wish I had a dollar for every time this type of thing happened to my dd. It's a bummer, but there's nothing you can do except buy him some other ribbons.
My dd really has forgotten about all of her kindergarten ribbons. It seems important now, but in the big scheme of things, he'll probably forget about them next week.
I like the idea of the "reward" for a turn in. Another thought I had was that if you have the class e-mail list, send a note to all of the parents saying that your son's ribbons disappeared from his desk and if anyone notices that their child suddenly had a bunch of ribbons in his or her back pack, to please have the items returned to the office, no questions asked. Kids that age aren't wily enough to hide something like that for very long, they're likely to show up in a backpack or pocket sooner or later.
Well, since you can't prove anything, maybe if you offered a reward via the teacher?
She could announce that there is an itunes gift card (or whatever kind) at the front office for any student who "finds" the ribbons and turns them in.
It may not work, but nothing ventured nothing gained. And if the ribbons aren't returned, then you get your gift card (or cash, or whatever) back, too. So no loss there.
You could try telling the running club what happened and asking them for replacements. I would think if you tell them how much they meant to your son they would be kind enough to replace them.
You could also try the reward route, with no questions asked.
Aw, that really sucks :-(
I like someone else's idea about offering a reward, with no questions asked.
Beyond that, this will be a painful but valuable lesson for your son going forward: precious items should ALWAYS stay safe at home.
That really stinks!!!!!
No you don't take stuff like that to school.
(Nor a favorite toy or stuffed animal - they stay safely at home where they won't get stolen or broken by strangers.)
You frame them and hang them on a wall or put them in a scrap book.
Well, lesson learned.
There will be other ribbons and you'll all know better next time around.
Is there any way you can replace the ribbons? A lot of kindergarten ribbons are pretty generic, so you *should* be able to find the same ones somewhere.
Call the teacher ASAP. It's hie/her classroom and I guarantee you he or she will get to the bottom of it.
The ribbons are gone - lesson learned, do not take irreplaceable items to school. However, I'm sure you took pictures of him with his ribbons at one point or another, right? Probably at the awards ceremony after each race. Print out the picture(s) and put them in a scrapbook. Write up a short summary of each picture ("Timmy won first place at the Turkey Day Run!"). This way, he can look at his ribbons any time he wants to, and can show family and friends. A scrapbook is probably an easier way to preserve these types of memories anyhow - and any future ribbons could go straight into the scrapbook with accompanying photos.
You got them back, but I voted on sending email to the parents. Hell no I would not reward the thief!
He will gets plenty of ribbons in his life. :) The ones we've gotten always get lost. Always. And we don't even bring them out of the house!
Ribbons are given for lots of stuff these days, not just sports.
