I said to this girl, "Oh no! But we're having a Christmas party!" Then I asked her why she was in a bad mood.
"I've just had a really rough couple of weeks."
I asked if she wanted to talk about it. She shook her head as her eyes started to well up, but she still stood there. So I stood there too, waiting. And soon enough she started to share about being picked on and teased at church last week (elsewhere) and how that reminded her of being bullied at school.
There wasn't much I could say to help, but I told her kids picked on me a lot at that age, too. She said, "They called me gross." I said, "They called me weird. But you know, a lot of kids your age are just mean. So a lot of people get picked on."
Then she started talking about how her grandmother says they're just jealous of things she has that they don't like her dogs. Some people can't have dogs because they're allergic. And then she scampered off.
I'd love to say I totally revolutionized her world and solved her problems. But that'd be a lie. What I can say is that I gave her a safe space to share. And I believe that in and of itself makes a big difference in a kid's life.
At our Christmas party, we gave our kids gifts. My co-teacher had some plastic ornaments and I had some homemade bookmarks. And as one girl approached the table, she was just totally caught up in the moment. "Wow..." she whispered. "These are beautiful."
She turned and looked at us. "How can you afford things like this?"
To us, it was a cheap gift. But to her, it was extravagant. I wish kids never lost that sense of wonder.
No comments:
Post a Comment