I almost messed up today. I was lucky. What saved me was my belief that teachers must be kind and find genuine smiles for children, even when annoyed.
I had a mom bring in cupcakes for her daughter's birthday today. If you know me, you may know that I'm not really a fan of them in the class. They're too sugary, make the kids wild, and it's common to have carpet damage. Lately I've been taking them with us to lunch in the cafeteria, passing them out there, and not fussing around with the whole birthday treat in the classroom issue.
That was my plan when Marisela told me this morning her mom was bringing treats, but mom happened to arrive later than planned. She came right in the middle of our afternoon math lesson...right when I had the kids where I wanted and it was going wonderfully.
Here's where I had a choice to make. I could ask her to just drop them off and wait until right before the bell to pass them out. Or I could invite her and her two toddlers in, pitch the lesson and clean the carpet later. I chose to do the kind thing. I invited her into our class to sing Happy Birthday, watch Marisela share treats with friends and take pictures. Admittedly, I may not have been so laid back if it weren't a Friday afternoon. But it was, and I was.
As the kids ate and got the sugar-sillies, I chatted with mom and I asked her if they had any fun birthday plans this weekend. She told me that, no...this was it. Dad was having bank account problems, and she borrowed money from her sister to buy cupcakes for the class. She gave Marisela the choice of a present or bringing treats, and she chose treats for her classmates.
I'm so glad I didn't turn mom away at the door. I'm so glad I did the kind thing and threw my afternoon plans out the door as I invited mom in. I'm so glad we sang Happy Birthday and mom took those pictures of her birthday girl smiling a huge pink icing smile.
One thing I've learned about teaching kids is that teaching doesn't matter at all unless I genuinely care about the human condition of my students and their families. Kindness matters. It really does.