Many people outside of education always say, "I bet you hear hilarious things all day!" when they find out I teach preschool and kindergarten and the answer is always "yes and no".
No, because I can't laugh at most things that I find ridiculous and funny. When I laugh, 23 other people laugh which often makes a child feel uncomfortable and feelings get hurt. Also, when I laugh at something that is hilarious but not technically appropriate for our classroom, that 'hilarious' thing I laughed at 3 weeks ago keeps coming back to "bite me" (ex: since I laughed once at the way one child walked like a bear and then roared to go and get their coat, the same child continues to walk like a bear and roar each time we prepare to leave) so I have to laugh inside my head in order to keep peace and sanity.
Yes because mental 'filters' come later in life and the kids truly say and do things that come right out of their own thoughts. I wanted to share a few with you that I keep going around in my mind.
"Miss Knapp, why do you keep messing up our names? You don't know who we are?"
To my defense, there are 6 children who start with "J" and 7 children whose names end in a schwa - the "UH" sound so things can get tricky....
Early this week I noticed a young 4 year old cleaning up the snack area using the push sweeper we have in our room. A few minutes later I looked over and he stopped sweeping but started picking up the cheerios with his hands. He lifted up his sweater, looked at his belly, rubbed it and then put the cheerio in his mouth faster than I could get there and then looked at his belly again. I'm not sure if he thought he could see the food or was having an inner-conversation with his hunger but I reminded him that there was a whole bowl of fresh cereal and eating off the floor isn't sanitary.
One girl likes to critique what I'm wearing on a given day and compare me to a 'character' of some sort. Lately I've been told I was a lion, a scarecrow and a train person (conductor) and that I'm 'softy'. Terms of endearment!
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