In December I had the great opportunity to spend a half-day at a pre-school with about 20 amazing kids. I walked into the classroom while the kids were playing musical chairs and immediately all of the kids started to stare in my direction, thinking that I was the parent of one of their classmates. In fact, a bold kid yelled to the another kid, “look, it’s your daddy!!” Um, I’m pretty sure that I’m not your daddy, but I can be mistaken…
After an introduction where I was regarded as “Mister,” I sat amidst the children and read two books to them. They attentively sat and listened to every word of the story with a huge smile on their faces. As I read the stories the kids would interject random thoughts like, “I like fire trucks,” or “I’m strrrrronnngggg” or “I don’t know your name!!” As soon as I acknowledged any of the kids’ statements, all of the other kids would volunteer similar information, like “I am strong too” or “I like RED firetrucks!”
After reading time the kids had an appetizing lunch of rice and milk and then I played the fun game of “put the colored shaped into the tiny bowls” with a few of them while others ran in circles around the room at full speed. Certain kids were happy to show me their knowledge of colors and shapes by proudly declaring, “this is a YELLOW CIRCLE,” while others were timid to show their lack of shape knowledge, like “this is a orlue septangle?” I couldn’t help but laugh a bit.
It was one of the more rewarding experiences of my life and I can’t wait to do it again; however I’m sure that I’ll feel differently about visiting a kindergarten full of screaming children when I have 11 kids of my own and screaming children is a staple of my day.