As most of you know, I started sharing some of the cute, poignant, funny experiences I have had here since the start of school. I am trying to publish these little (jewels) each weekend of the year. I ran into a little snag towards the end of August and did not post anything for a couple of weeks. Hopefully, it will come a little later. But, for now here are a couple of cute ones that happened just this past week.
1) On Tuesday, while in the cafe, I watched and listened to a Kinder boy and girl as they shared a very interesting discovery. The little girl scooted over real close to the boy and asked him a question. She was very quiet and secretive like she was getting ready to share her most guarded treasures.
"Do you want to see my Owie?"
The little boy looked around the room as if he was checking to see if the coast was clear. "Yea!" He nodded.
The girl lifted her hand and revealed a sweaty wrinkled bandage on her pointer finger. Carefully with the precision of a 5 year old surgeon, she started to remove the bandage. After much struggling and tugging it finally slipped off. Her eyes immediately became big as she stared at her finger, which was totally without blemish...soft and smooth as can be.
"Where is it? The boy asked.
The little girl moved her finger and hand around from side to side, but the owie was nowhere to be found. "I swear!" She said. "It was here!"
"I guess my mom was right." She added. "These band aids work miracles."
2) One day this past week, I filled in for Ms. Wood our lab teacher. Later in the day, as one particular 4th grade class was filing into the lab…like angels with wings sprouting, I might add. (Ha Ha) There was one particular young lady, who is an angel, came to me and said, “Grandpa, Jose, (not his real name, or course) is pushing me in the back.”
“Ok, I'll talk to him.”
now I might be considered by many…ok, most, to be
old(er), but I'm not so old that I have forgotten what runs
through the brain of a young boy.
“Hey, Jose, I need to talk to you.” Jose and I moved to an area that was not within earshot of others. “I want to ask you a question. It’s an easy question, but it might be a difficult answer. Just be honest with me, and this is just between you and I. I'm not going to call your parents or tell the principal or anything like that, OK? Can you do that?”
He nodded his head.
“So, do you think that maybe, a little bit, that perhaps, Susie (again not her real name) is kind of cute?”
Jose got a little embarrassed and started to shuffle his feet and finally muffled under his breath, “yea.”
“Well, it's okay to let her know that you think she's cute, but, take it from me, pushing her, or pulling her hair, or poking her in the back, or touching her anywhere, is not going to work. Believe me, I know. I've tried it and it just backfires…every time.”
He was real quiet and just stared at the floor. “So do you want to know how to become friends with her?”
Again he nodded.
“Okay, now I'm not saying this works every time, but the success rate is much higher than poking her in the back…give her a compliment. Say something like, ‘Hey, Susie, I sure think you have a pretty smile.’ Then just walk away.”
“Then what?” He wanted to know.
“Let a couple of days past, and give her another compliment, like you think her hair is pretty. After awhile, Susie is going to think, ‘Humm, maybe Jose is not such a big creep after all.’ Then you guys will become friends.”
3) I had the opportunity last week to work with Cullen for awhile one day. I don't usually mention the names of the children I write about, but in this case, I don't think I will offend anyone. Miss Anderholt was working with the class as a group on the carpet up at the front of her room. Cullen wasn't really interested in doing what the other children were doing, and he was devoted to finishing his math worksheet. We worked on it together of a few seconds when all of a sudden he jumped up and announced that he had to go to the bathroom. Without even waiting for a nod of approval from me, he was gone. (If he decides to become a teacher someday, he will need to work on the endurance part of “holding it” a little.)
While he was gone, Irene called me on the phone and asked if I could go to Ms. Maitland’s Kindergarten class for awhile, as she had an IEP meeting to attend. Apparently, as it was explained to me, when Cullen returned from the lavatory, he looked around and simple said, “Where’s the guy!”
So…at least I am recognized as “the guy” and not just “grandpa.”
4) While this next experience is somewhat funny, I have to admit that I'm a little bewildered and maybe even dismayed. I had occasion to share lunchtime with a group of third graders the other day. The young man sitting next to me leaned over and asked, “Grandpa, did they have school when you were a kid?”
“Well, of course they did.” I answered.
“What kind of things did you have to learn?”
“The same things you have to learn…math, English, science.”
“Oh!” (Pause) “Did they have You Tube?” He continued.
“ No, we didn't have You Tube.”
“Did you have Mind Craft?”
“Nope, sorry, no Mind Craft.”
“Not even Mario Brothers?”
“We didn't have any of that, computers hadn't even been invented yet.” I tried to explain. Again there was a long pause.
“So, what did you do for fun?” He asked, quite puzzled.
“We went outside and played.”
“Played what???” He asked, visibly shaken.
“We played Red Rover, Red Rover. We played Hide and Seek and Blind Mans Bluff. Or we would build houses out of card board and forts out of tumble weeds and cities in the flower beds with our toy cars. Sometimes we played Hop Scotch or Jaxs, or Pick Up Sticks…you know stuff like that.”
We really do live in a totally different world.
Have a great week next week, and make lots of memories.
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