She was like I asked my parents for an American Girl and
my mom said that it is a waste of money. I told her that her mom is
probably right. Then Hope was like every
girl at my school has them. I was like really?!
Then she looks at me and confesses that that is not a true statement. I was
like do you really need this doll?!
Hope was honest enough to admit that she didn't need it.
By the time Hope gets to my
home on Tuesdays, she has had a whole day of school and a couple of other
classes. She is literally exhausted. I feel so sorry for the kid, but her mom
has Tuesdays and Thursdays off, and all her extracurricular lessons are
scheduled after school on those 2 days. So, I let her have a therapeutic talk
with me before we start our session. I try to make the session as exciting and
interesting as possible for Hope.
Some days, Hope wants to
share her knowledge with me and I let her. Last Tuesday, she wanted to teach me
how to make butter. She said it takes 2 minutes. I told her that I could spare
2 minutes for her. She needed cream and sugar and 2 minutes to shake them
together in an airtight container. The end result was a sickeningly sweet
concoction. Hope and I discussed that we should have maybe used whipping cream
instead of coffee cream. Then we would have ended up with butter like
substance.
When we finished our scheduled
one hour session, Hope said that she didn't know how to thank me! She said
"a hundred thanks" to me. This little girl is 7 years old and wise
beyond her years. I let her know that the best thanks she can give me is to
indulge others with little things like our 2 minute experiment. I told her that
that would make me happy. She beamed and walked out with the rest of the
concoction to share with her mom.
Today, I finally put up our
Christmas tree. The first gift under it is Hope’s. It is definitely not an American Girl! That would be too much
and going against her mom’s wishes. All I got her were a couple of LOL dolls. Apparently, they are all the
rage and come in a range of prices. It will make Hope happy and it will also be
agreeable with her mom. It is my way of saying thanks to the both of them!
Today, I also had a
conversation with my brother. He said that “when a student is ready, the
teacher will appear”. For me, it has been the other way round. I was ready to
go back to teaching and the students appeared. Each of them makes my journey
magical. I am learning so much from them and I am so thankful for the teaching
opportunities. As much as I believe in thanking my own children’s teachers, I
am beginning to believe that teachers should take the opportunity to thank
their students as well. If seen from a certain perspective, learning happens
both ways!
On a related note, a few weeks ago, G remarked during a conversation
that I am preachy! Feedback like that stays with me forever and haunts me. Now
I worry that my blog posts are preachy. I have gone back and read a few of
them, and maybe sometimes they read like some moral tales?! In my defence, all
I have to say is that I am a mother and a teacher; that makes me doubly
preachy!! The boys just need to use the right perspective when they read them.
And they will understand my drift.
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