Last month I finished my three-week kindergarten teacher
training and I am still recovering from it now. It's the steepest learning
curve I have ever experienced. During my training I was with about 25 children
for 7 hours everyday although I had never spent more than two hours at a time
with any child before. It was physically draining but emotionally exhilarating.
Having said that, I must admit that I am a real sucker for
hugs and cuddles even though they usually come with germs when kids are
involved. Once at the mat time, I had three kids sitting on me and fighting for
my attention. I was struggling to balance all four of us, a task reminding me
why I’m not in the circus, when one kid told the other two that only she was
allowed to sit on my lap which unfortunately created a heated debate and I had
to hush them up.
Some of the kids are dangerously passionate. Once a
4-year-old girl came running to me while I was sitting on the mat with other
kids and knocked me over when she threw herself at me. We both went down and I landed
on my elbow and it started bleeding. There were a few other similar occasions although
I didn't need plasters in those cases.
They are usually so sweet that they can just melt you. One
of the little girls has declared her undying love for me while sitting on my
lap, giggling with her chubby arms around my neck and kissing my cheeks - oh
yeah kids kiss too, but usually my hands and arms though. Of course I
understand I was just a new toy for the kids, but I was alarmed when some kids
asked if they could call me mummy. In fact one of them started calling me mummy
even after I said no. I only hope that their real mummies will never find out about
their betrayal.
I think that children are affectionate because they are
not afraid of rejections. As we grow up, we lose some natural abilities kids
take for granted, for example:
-- Ability to trust instinct: we let greed, vanity and
other ugly emotions to take charge.
-- Ability to be happy: kids don't need to
smoke/drink/get stoned to be happy.
-- Ability to allow ourselves to make mistakes: pride is
never a serious concern for kids.
And worst of all, we learn to use language to mask our
feelings and manipulate others'. The more socialized and sophisticated we get,
the more pretentious and skillful we are. City kids are 'smarter' than country
kids, and older kids are better trained at getting what they want than younger
kids.
Oh well, I think there is nothing we can do about that.
Just give me a hug and a cuddle, will you? No germs please.
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