On a large white sheet in the living room of her Hamilton Twp. home, Elena displayed her 245 bracelets, arranging them by color. They were not all the Silly Bandz brand, but the variety was staggering — an umbrella, a guitar, a guy surfing, a palm tree, a spatula, vampire’s teeth, swim trunks and a Chinese takeout box, to name a few.
“I like to trade them,” Elena said. “I think they’re cool ’cause they’re like shaped rubber bands.”
Anna agreed with her sister that she’d rather have a new pack of Silly Bandz, which range in price from about $5 to $7, than food.
“They’re awesome,” Anna said with obvious reverence.
As schools open in the next week, the bracelets may pose a problem for teachers vying for their students’ attention.
According to a recent interview in Business Week with Silly Bandz creator Robert Croak of Toledo, some schools across the country have already banned the bracelets because they are distractions that are sometimes used as projectiles.
First- and second-grade teachers Sara Lyman and Jennifer Coleman of Lebanon City Schools said they started seeing many students wearing them at the end of last school year. There are no rules against the bracelets in the district, but Coleman said, “we’ll have to see how it goes.”
At Elena’s school, St. Francis de Sales in Lebanon, students must adhere to a strict dress code and colorful, funny-shaped bracelets are not allowed.
“I just wore them on the last day of school ’cause I knew I could get away with it,” Elena said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4542 or rwilson@coxohio.com.
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