Lately, all the kids have been talking about relationships. I'm not sure where they get their information from though...some of it is right, like when I heard this conversation:
L: I'm gonna be in love and get married!
D: Me too!
J: Me too! I'm gonna marry my MOM!
D., very solemnly, leaned across the table, and whispered in a low voice: You can't marry someone you're related to.
Well, that was a shock for J! She had to search her brain for someone else to think about now...
And some of it is downright strange. This morning, O. came over to Miss P. crying his little heart out saying that H. said she and another little boy couldn't be his friend anymore. When we finally got down to brass tacks, she and this other little boy came over "to tell the truth", and it turned out they'd said something a little bit different.
O., crying, crying, crying...: H. and D. said they won't be my friends!
H: That's not what I said!
D: Let me be honest here, we were all arguing who H. has a crush on and then we said she should really decide for herself and she decided it was me.
H: But I said O. is still my best friend! It's just that I have a crush on D.
O:, still crying, crying, crying: But I want her to have a crush on ME, too!
So, Miss P. implored H. couldn't she have a crush on both of them?
Miss P.: You love both your parents, don't you?
Miss P.: You love both your parents, don't you?
By this time, the entire class was listening in and either snickering at the word "crush" and that H. was actually admitting one, or they were in awe that O. was crying so hard over the lack of one.
H: Yes, but it's really hard to love four people all at the same time!
Eventually H. felt forced to tell the boys she had crushes on both of them (which, we all know, she doesn't) and I was left reflecting on the possible difficulties of loving more than one person at a time. I wondered if, as a kid, I had thought that was impossible? I know it's taken me years to get over the idea that if someone I loved loved someone else, as well as me, that not enough was left over for me! And we had a student last year who felt the same way (he told us that his mom loved his little brother, so she couldn't possibly love him enough, too!) and he took it out on everyone else. That was rough to watch. Worse still, I never felt we had the right words to sooth him.... you just can't convince someone of how much they're loved if they don't believe it themselves.
2 comments:
what a great post! i haven't seen your blog in a really long time, so it was nice to read you again! thanks!
this makes me feel sad and touched--good story. it's that kind of bittewrsweet truth that kills me lady, kills me. also, i read the title of this post out loud to jim, who is lying on the floor right now watching mad max, and his comment was, "english is retarded."
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