The Prince of Lunch

I used to think that it was lame being a lunch Mom... in fact, I largely still do. But today was eye opening.

The children from the first lunch period are the funniest. They are the little ones. Less entrenched in the culture of school. More convinced in the ideal of fairness. Essentially the sociological state of nature.

Each table of children at lunch is appointed a table captain. That child is responsible for cleaning the tables with a cloth... a task they all hate. On the plus side though, they are responsible for keeping their fellow classmates quiet and in straight lines while waiting to be taken to their classes after recess. Now this is fun!

Watching this portion of the lunch ritual is the best because I felt that I was watching Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince acted out before my eyes. As it turns out the table captain is the ideal prince. Always a tyrant but with the ability to chose between kindness and cruelty, generosity and niggardliness, licentiousness and virtue. And that the mixture of these options played out over the five minutes of line up time and five grades proved to be a virtual incubator of socio-political options and intrigues.

As I listened to the complaints of various table captains and their subjects... ooops, classmates, I realized that power does corrupt. That it is better to be loved, but if you can't be loved, you better be feared. And that the the success of the prince is based in some part on the support of the people, even though the prince should in no part depend on that support.

Even if you are 5 years old. Maybe particularly, if you are five.