Ask a child to state his or her most preferred classroom subject, and you’re bound to hear “recess” as the answer. Don’t lose hope in the future of mankind just yet; this is normal (I alternated between art and recess as favorites throughout elementary, and I turned out fine). Even more, there are some valuable branding lessons to be gleaned from that hallowed break in the school day.
Take that polite playground offering of “you go first,” also known as a minimally veiled attempt to avoid physical harm or the teacher’s punishment — if so-and-so didn’t carry off jumping from the top of the slide too well, you knew not to follow suit. And if he or she met whatever challenge with aplomb, maybe it was something to mimic after all (logical, at least, in our seven-year-old minds).