I drive Peirce to Kindergarten every day. We try to go a little early so that he has time to play and so that Jill can see her friends for a few minutes. Well, today we were there and a little girl came to me and was chatting. Often kids will do that - but they usually get distracted and then go on with their playing. This little girl didn't...she just kept talking and talking and talking to me. I continued the conversation with her but inside thought, "Why don't you go play little girl and stop nattering at me?"....thankfully I didn't. Soon another little girl from my Peirce's class came along. She was looking sad. I tried to chat with her and encourage her to play with the kids, asked her if she wanted help zipping up her coat (kind of a cold wind today and she wasn't dressed that warmly), but she wouldn't budge. She just continued pouting and stood against the wall. I asked her if she was mad, if she was sad, etc....kind of joking around trying to break the crusty surface. No luck. Finally the other little girl that had been nattering at me said, "I'm sad." I asked her why she was sad (because she didn't seem very sad!) and her response stopped me dead in my tracks. She said she is sad because her mom doesn't live with her anymore. I asked her where her mom lives and she lives quite close to here but she said she isn't allowed to go see her. It broke my heart!! I asked her how long her mom lived away from her and she said it was since February. I just felt so bad for her. I wanted to hug her and take her home!! I wondered if that was why she was so interested in chatting with me - she misses a mother figure. I noticed that after I left her to walk my son over to where he was to line up that she went over and was talking to one of the playground supervisors. Clearly this kid is missing some adult female interaction in her life. So sad!!
When we were driving home from the school I was telling Jill about the conversation with this little girl. She was visibly upset by the story as well and then her response made me so proud. She said, "Mom! Now you know why you ALWAYS have to be nice to everyone....you just never know!"
So true my wise little girl. So true!
1 comment:
Oh what a sad sweet story. I often feel uncomfortable when little kids come and talk to me at parks and other places, but now I'll think twice about brushing them off!
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