Kindergarten Teacher's Aid

Well, only a few months after the weekly paper that I was managing editor of bit the dust, I am happily working as an aid for a kindergarten class. It’s actually a job that I’ve wanted—rather I should say it’s a job that I thought I’d be good at and have considered for the past ten years. I didn’t apply until recently, and voila! I got the job.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a five-year-old and having 13 at once is a handful. They’re full of energy and just starting to learn about their place in the world. As an artist, it’s interesting that about half the class (boys) don’t like to color. It’s like the hardest thing they’ve ever done.

Some are too busy looking at their neighbor’s page to color their own and would prefer I do it for them—ah, but I won’t. Others are artists in the rough and painstakingly color each project to perfection and are quite impressive for kindergarteners.

The teacher let them use colored pencils today and a few of the kids used a lot of pencil by pushing hard and scribbling over and over. At that rate they’ll only be able to use each pencil on two or three pictures before they’re turned to nubs. I was kept busy at the pencil sharpener.

It’s a lot of fun, and with one kind word, one moment of offered help, they repay in smiles and hugs. If only the rest of the world were so easily charmed. I hope that I’ll be allowed to continue as the kindergarten teacher’s aid for years to come. Now, if only I can get all of my other ‘hats’ in line and accomplished because I still have several novels that I expect to get published hopefully sometime soon, and I’m also working on an art show for later this month. Busy, busy, busy—just like a classroom of kindergarteners only without half the energy.