Today I sent three kids home from the nurse’s office at 2:30 in the afternoon.  It’s rare that I send kids home that late in the afternoon.  Usually if they can survive all the way to 2:30, I ask them to go back to their classrooms and go home at dismissal.  Not today, though.  Because today, I was following emergency protocol for ingested poisons.

Because today, 3 of the 4th grade boys at my school drank themselves a round of Germ-X shots.  That’s Germ-X, as in, hand sanitizer.  Why would 3 boys all drink themselves a round of Germ-X shots?  I’m glad you asked.  They drank them on a dare.  On a love dare, no less.  Turns out, a certain persuasive 4th grade girl told these particular 3 boys that if they wanted to date her, they were going to have to prove their love.  How, oh how could they prove their love?  They begged to know.  Persuasive Girl’s eye glinted to the corner of the room.  Who ever will drink some Germ-X, she told them, obviously really does love me.

And so three 4th grade boys were escorted to my office by their teacher, who informed me with a straight face that these boys were about to be Love Sick in a way that they had never bargained for.