Newfound Laughter

A Tiny Laughing Moment in a Virtual class

The moment

Me: Did you enjoy the weekend children?

Students: (Almost in a chorus) Boring, dull, bad, horrible……

One student: Ma’am when will we get back to school?

Another student: I miss my school so much

Everyone joins in a wistful chorus.

Me: I know. But the best thing is you are getting to spend more time with your parents now…..

One boy: That is the problem, ma’am. My mom is after me all the time She is like “Do this ….” “No! Don’t…”

Another one: Same here.

Girl: My mother spies on me.

Boy: I can’t even fart freely…she screams and pushes me into the toilet. I don’t poop though.

Peels of laughter followed.

Reflections

Being a teacher for more than two decades, I have been fortunate to be able to create a huge repository of wonderful experiences, incidents and anecdotes associated with children. I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment spent with my students in school. I miss going to school because I miss seeing childhood in action, a ringside view I was so used to for so many years.

The school functions practically online nowadays with a huge distance between teachers and students. Teaching and learning are conducted on a virtual platform. This is new and it is nowhere similar to our age-old system. And I must say this new experience is challenging. I find myself in new situations which I would have never had had the opportunity to encounter otherwise in normal circumstances.

Above was a replay of a funny incident that happened on Monday morning this week.

Needless to say, the child felt elated when his frustrated rant was unexpectedly applauded.

Children have their own ways of looking at things. They live in a world much different from the real world we live in. It does help to understand them better if, from time to time, we revisit our days spent in childhood before we moved on. Children adapt to new situations easily. They are resilient too. It is said that in being so they push their present feelings of shock and trauma, sorrow and pain to the deep recesses of their brains that manifest in their personality later in their adulthood. Hence our mindful behaviour is the call of the hour. Especially during these tough stressful times of quarantine, they deserve a lot more empathy from the adults around them though many of them do not ask for it.

Takeaways

Sometimes adults overlook the fact that children also need their “Me Time”. Just like we need our space and would certainly object intrusion so do children. Children should be allowed to fall down and hurt their knees while learning to walk. Only then will they be able to walk tall and straight as adults.

In response to this week’s (27th July-2nd August) prompt ‘Laughter’.

Thanks, Keno.