Dad on Duty #105

Well, that was a beat down.

 

I’ve been doing this school gig for….well, this is the beginning of the 7th year. So I think it’s fair to say “a while”.

 

I’ve had a handful of days that were meatgrinders. You can read about those in other blog post entries…..but days this rough are relatively few.

 

But this, certainly, was one for the highlight reel

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Have you ever craved salty foods? Or bananas?

 

There is a fair amount of evidence that your body will call for stuff you need, like sodium or potassium for example.

 

I think that’s true of your heart and soul too. And of your mental health.

 

What do we do, as educators, when we see a kid that seems to need something fundamental, like…..

…………love?

 

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I don’t know what the hell y’all sprayed down the pre-K hallway today, but it was not a good thing. It was definitely the opposite of lavender calming ginkgo juice, or whatever…..

 

They were the *worst*. Just awful. I don’t ever remember having to walk down the hallway with two 5 year olds suspended, one under each of my arms, headed back to their classroom. But that sure as s^%$ happened today.

 

A sub that got sentenced to Pre-K today passed me in the hallway at one point and literally said “now I totally have a reason to drink this weekend. I do that anyway, but usually without a reason. But THIS is a really good reason”.

 

I just nodded. Yes, this is a pretty good reason.

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We often see kids at school who are clearly craving attention. They will do outrageous stuff to get the attention and time and focus of an adult.

 

As educators, we typically push back on that. If you are acting out for attention, then we shun your expectation; we don’t reward that behavior.

 

But, to my colleagues, I ask this; what if that behavior is the product, not of being spoiled and accustomed to attention (of which cases certainly exist…..I personally have a child in that category……not gonna name names, but it rhymes with “Story”)…..but what if some of the cases we see are a genuine deficit of attention?

 

What if they need adult attention, like you sometimes need salt?

 

How should we respond to that?

 

The first problem might be recognizing that case. But I’ve found, after a few years at school, that is not too hard to do. It is pretty easily diagnosable.

 

I’m dealing with a little princess at my school that, I think, falls in that category.

 

I am pretty sure she is a bit disadvantaged. She is one year behind everyone else in her grade; one year older, one year bigger, but lacking in social skills and unable to manage conflict or disruptions well. If you move her cheese, all hell breaks loose.

 

And she seems to be starving for attention.

 

I dealt with her a lot today in particular. And now that I reflect on it, I think; she needs salt. It’s not that she just really likes salt, so is demanding more; she has a deficit.

 

Now we must find just the right balance to meet her genuine needs, without rewarding bad behaviors.

 

And that, folks, is incredibly complex.

 

Importantly, it will require all of us involved to be genuinely engaged in doing stuff uncomfortable, and a little outside what we’d like to do.

 

I ask that of you. As I ask it of myself.

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We’re doing vision and hearing testing, required by state law, today.

 

It is a logistic nightmare. I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice it to say it would be easier to get folks to Mars than to pull this crap off.

 

What I will share with you though is this; teachers are stuck, with their entire classes, in the hallway while two kids at a time take a vision test. The other 21 kids are sitting on the floor of the hallway. For like 38 minutes.

 

The teachers really had no warning that we were about to subject them to this; basically, I showed up at their door and told them “in 15 minutes I need you to go to room 231 to get your kids’ hearing tested”. “Um…..ok……” was the response.

 

So here they sit in the hallway, with their entire class.

 

And what I got to witness was educator genius. These teachers did word puzzles, number games, social studies quizzes…..off the top of their heads, with absolutely no materials and no preparation.

 

You wanna know what these people, these teachers, are capable of? This right here. Teaching, in an empty hallway, with no prep. And engaging every single kid.

 

Mic drop, ladies. Just walk away now.

 

And get a damn margarita.