Well, actually, there are several perks: they forgive you faster for things, they make you feel incredibly intelligent for knowing how to read and add double digit numbers, and they have story time on a fairly regular basis. My favorite perk, however, is that they say the darndest, cutest little things to you, meant with all seriousness and sincerity. Oftentimes it’s not only cute, but also stunningly honest and perceptive. It’s the kind of thing that you hear, and know that a few years from now they won’t be talking the same way anymore, but without being able to explain why or how that comes to be.
A few of my favorite quotes (they work best if you remember to put them in the cute squeaky six-year-old voice):
Student A: Student B, you are doing an excellent job today!
Student B: Student A, you are also doing an excellent job today!
Me: Oh that’s what I like to hear! It makes me happy when you guys are so nice and encouraging of each other.
Student B: Miss, you are also doing an excellent job today!
~*~*~
Teacher: We’re being a little bit silly today, aren’t we?
Student: I’m not silly, I’m serious.
*very serious pause*
Student: I’m the government.
~*~*~
Kid (who has just lost a tooth moments before, so still needs to wash the blood out of his mouth): Now I’m a vampire!
~*~*~
Me (after watching the kid hug a girl who clearly was not ready for said hug): Hey, I’m really glad that you’re making friends, but you might want to ask people before you hug them, because sometimes people don’t want to be hugged, and it’s good to check with them first.
Student: Well, I asked her at recess but she ran away!
Me (barely keeping a straight face): Well, that probably means that she didn’t want a hug right then.
~*~*~
But one of my all-time favorites occured today. A kid who usually moves a bit slow had done a really good job packing up and getting his stuff together, which had gone unnoticed by the teacher. So I gave him a high five and told him what a good job he had done.
Student: Yeah! Oh, Miss, wanna know what I want to be when I grow up?
Me: What?
Student: A firefighter!
Me: I think you’d be a great firefighter!
Student: Yeah! And I’d get the hose! Woosh, woosh!
Other student: I’m gonna be a policeman when I grow up!
Me: Oh good, then the two of you could work together!
Other student: Yeah! And I would stop the bad guys!
Student: Miss, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Now, I should have expected the question, but I didn’t, and so I wasn’t quite sure how to answer him. If I had been, I probably would have said something offhanded and silly, like “tall” or “a candy taster,” or just have been completely nonsensical. But instead, I wound up trying to stall, and came out with “That’s a good question! I’m not sure what I would be!”
The kid, however, looks at me completely seriously for a moment, then smiles and says, “You would want to be someone that helps other people, right?”
To which I looked back at him, touched and impressed that he had summed up everything I’ve wanted to be since I’d started planning my future life back in elementary school, and smiled back at him.
“Yes. That’s exactly what I want to be.”
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