Conversations With Children

Just a couple of conversations* I've had with my students. It's funny that they both have to do with the restroom. Must be a magical place - the restroom. :|

*The following stories are true. The names of the characters have been changed to protect the innocent.

Billy: May I go to the bathroom?

ME: Billy, we just got back to class from taking a break. Did you use the restroom then?

Billy: No.

ME: Why not? You know you're supposed to use the restroom on break.

Billy: Well, Jimmy told me to get out of the bathroom.

ME: Billy, we've had this conversation before. I have told you that regardless of what other students tell you, you need to use the restroom while you're in there.

Billy: Well, Martin was holding on to me.

ME: (confused!) Why was Martin holding onto you?

Billy: Because I was dancing.

ME: WHY?! Why were you dancing in the restroom?

Billy: I don't know.

ME: (resigned) Hurry up and go.

During break recently, a student was taking a very long time in the restroom so I went to check on him. Listening at the door, I didn't hear anything so I pushed it open a bit and called in, "Hurry up! You've been in there a long time." Silence. "What are you doing?" Silence. "Are you using the restroom?" A long pause, the creaking of a stall door, then, "Yes." Repeating myself, "Hurry up!"

I return to my table and a few minutes later said student comes out of the bathroom. Calling him over, I question him again, "What took you so long in the restroom?" Silence. "What took you so long?" "Nothing, I was hurrying. Chris was bothering me."

"You were the only one in the restroom - all the other boys were sitting out here. I checked. What were you doing in the bathroom?"

Silence.

"Were you playing?"

A half smile and an almost-admission. "No, I wasn't playing."

"Yes, you were. Were you playing with the decorations in there?" (Apparently the decorations in the boy's bathroom are very entertaining because several of the boys have been in trouble for playing with them.)

"No. The plunger."

"You were playing with the plunger? Do I have to say the phrase, 'Do not play with the plunger?' We go into the restroom to use the restroom, not to play. Go sit down."

He leaves. My co-worker and I have a good laugh.

Too Much Thinking

The lesson of the Pigs and Pearls came to my mind today out of the blue. There's a story in the Bible that speaks against giving the good stuff you possess (pearls) to anything/one that doesn't appreciate it (pigs). The obvious lesson is one I know, but there's another that made me stop and think. You've got to actually have the 'pearls' before there will ever be a chance to bestow or withhold them. And what if what I think are my 'pearls' are really more like a mood ring that doesn't even work? Pearls are so complicated. And pigs stink.