[Editor’s note: No-sleep-till-Brooklyn is the pseudonym for a second-year kindergarten teacher in Brooklyn.]
Life is not easy. Need proof? I can think of trivial setbacks to prove life’s complications … returning from a walk one evening to find your wallet missing, arriving at work one morning only to discover your boots are on the wrong feet, slipping down a set of subway stairs after a night of little sleep. Annoying, but that’s life.
Lose a wallet? Just cancel those credit cards and order a new license. Oops, notice something funny about your feet? Shrug off the mixed-up boots as a rushed morning, hardy har har. Slip down some stairs? Pick yourself up and laugh with the people laughing at you. All are fairly typical complications.
But not all setbacks are so trivial or typical.
As my second year of teaching kindergarten (child-wrangling) comes to an end, I cannot help but review what happened throughout the year. If I think hard enough, I can remember a few charming teaching moments but overwhelming my senses are all the moments in which I found myself thinking, “You’ve GOT to be kidding me.” A five-year-old violently sneezing and looking up at you with an ounce of snot running down his nose and into his mouth (and some on your shoes) – not typical. A child bounding across the room with legs crossed, yelping, “My pee is coming out! My pee is coming out!” – not typical. Free haircuts during art – not typical. Dealing with parent complaints about the free haircuts – not fun. I could go on.
I figured that with a little experience under my belt, I might calm the wild and crazy children. But what I’ve come to realize is that with a little experience under my belt, I’m all the more ready to teach such wild and crazy children. I cannot change who my children are, but I can add some tasteful manners and adaptability to their repertoire. I can show them how to treat others kindly. I can give them hands-on experience with living things and give them a sense of true responsibility for something other than themselves. I can involve them in important decisions and make them feel valued and heard. Not as simple as managing wild and crazy children, but a valuable goal worth reaching for.
All this to say, life is not easy (which I knew), and teaching is no exception (which I DEFINITELY already knew). While last year I needed to outlast my children, this year I have made it my goal to help prepare my children to outlast me. A few solid lessons in life and love and these children will be on their way to making a big difference – whether that is for themselves, their family, their community or beyond.
