New York Skating News

Maya's class took a trip to a skating rink (Woolman Rink - Prospect Park). I went too, hoping that I may be of help. My usefulness stopped right after tying up the skating shoes. I did not get skates for myself (my last foray in skating, in my teen years ended in a split upper lip). So I am carefully holding Maya and one of her classmates, Roni as they walk on skates. Once we got there, I understood why they charged 25c admission for the kids: they isolated a minuscule portion of the rink for all the kids (about 100 of them) and a ruffian was pushing them to the right, yelling at them to hold on to the edge. Next thing I knew, she is holding up a crying Maya - she'll go last- he yelled.
I finally retrieved her and tried to guide her from the outside, holding her hands over the edge. The same handler "caught " me - and gave me a good yelling: "It's dangerous! You'll sue us!" (They had left a lot of ice to accumulate outside the rink, so rather than clean it, they just forbade access). I noticed a mother discretely in her shoes on ice so I took my chances - managing to get Maya to glide a little. Of course I got a second trashing.
By now, Maya and her partner Roni were both crying - so I took them out and to cheer them up, we sat on a bench eating lunch. No sooner did I open the milk cartoons for them, I get yelled at for the third time - we were eating in the wrong place. So, haul two little girls and their lunches to the other end of the building. In the end, Maya decided to give it another try - so, with assistance, got to go back and forth along the edge. "I skated!!!" she beamed. I was happy because she overcame the fear and then I had to deal only with the crying when they had to get out: "BUT I WANT TO SKATE SOME MOORE!!!!"
All in all, an emotional day.
She is in the bathroom now: "I am talking to my imaginary friend, mama"