Little joys!

One of the biggest advantages of volunteering as a teacher's helper in my son's class is that I've realised what a challenging (and sometimes thankless) job the teachers have. I mean, think about it; handling twenty kids, each of them one of a kind, each having a mind of his/her own (and speaking it!), some having 'off' days, others super-excited because of something..... And on rainy days, being cooped up in a classroom with all twenty of them for three hours at a stretch! Some days, I'm ready to tear my hair out and I'm only handling a few of them at a time, a couple of days a week! Needless to say, I'm all for teachers' salaries to be doubled, even tripled the current amount!!

Well, anyway, so that's the 'big' advantage. But there are a few little 'perks' that come from being with the kids over a period of time, getting to know them and earning their trust.

Like the time when this little girl, who's usually very shy and quiet, came up to me while all her friends were at recess. She speaks very softly so I had to lean close to hear her confide in me, "Mrs. K, I learnt how to tie my shoe-laces! My brother taught me how to. Look!" I was moved to tears that this little girl shared such an important achievement of hers with me! I congratulated her and she ran away to join her friends even before I could hug her.

And then, a few days back a new kid joined my son's class. He is very intelligent and articulate but had some initial adjustment problems. When I tried to get him to do something, he'd push my hand away saying, "Don't touch me." So imagine my surprise when he tapped me on my back the other day and when I turned around, pointed to his mouth and said, "I lost my tooth yesterday". "Wow!", I said, "So how did it fall off?"
He coolly replied, "Well, my mom just used my dad's pliers to pull it off", and walked away, leaving me fumbling for a response to that!

Later I felt pretty nice that this boy had gone from pushing me away to volunteering information(!!).
Thank God for the little joys in life!