The Resilience Of Kids

That's something I was continually amazed at as a teacher, how resilient and forgiving children can be. It was one of the things I loved about my job. Seeing the pure goodness in children and their willingness to believe someone else hurt them either physically or verbally by accident and not on purpose always reminded me to be more understanding and less ready to jump to conclusions over the motivations behind other people's behavior. That innocence and goodness is something I wish we could somehow hold onto forever or at least longer. There were so many incidents where a student was bullied or his/her feelings were hurt where I would carry the pain around for days, my heart breaking for that child. I would wish I could take that pain away and shield that child forever. I was always amazed at how quickly the child would bounce back, be playing with the same kids again, and have forgotten about what transpired. Kids are amazing at getting back up, dusting themselves off, asking for a hug and/or a band aid and moving forward.

Carter is no exception. He has a huge capacity for love and forgives almost as quickly as he is hurt. I still get a little emotional when I think back to Tuesday and picture him standing in front of his friends as they all laughed at him. He seemed to have forgotten the incident when he got up from his rest time on Tuesday and I didn't want to bring it up again and make it into more than it was to him. Just because it was upsetting to me, didn't mean it needed to continue to be so for him. So this morning we got ready for school just like it was any other day. Then as we were getting ready to walk out the door, Carter grabbed his sunglasses and put them on. I told him he was one cool dude and snapped a couple pictures which he gladly posed for. Elise was desperate to carry Carter's backpack again so I ran into her room to grab hers really quickly. While I was gone Carter grabbed one of Ty's baseball caps and put it on. He giggled as he told me, "I think my friends won't realize who I am if I walk into school with sunglasses and a hat on." I laughed back and told him he could wear them into school and then I'd take them to the car for him since he can't wear them during class. The whole ride to school he was talking about how funny it was going to be and how much his friends would laugh and be surprised.  He wanted to make sure he carried his coat in so they would know he was Carter Ty Cox. It was just stinking cute to listen to!

Posing for me in his sunglasses.

As we walked toward his class grouped together, sitting and waiting for the rest of the students to arrive, Carter pulled his sunglasses and hat off all in one motion and gave the coolest little smirky grin toward his friends. They all yelled out, "Carter!" and started laughing. As he sat down they were telling him how cool it was and he smiled the biggest smile. It was an awesome moment and just so darn cute to see and hear Carter planning out a way to surprise his friends. I loved how he took a lemon and turned it into some darn good lemonade. His friends laughed at his fingernails when he was excited to show them how cool they were. Instead of being upset and giving up, he brushed himself off and came up with a new idea for how to surprise his friends. Something I love about him is how creative he is. I'm sure he will keep coming up with ideas and tricks to share with his friends. They may not like them all and that's okay, because he won't give up. He will keep trying something new and brush off the old. That's my Carter man and that's what I love about him. Keep conquering the world, one goofy moment at a time, my sweet little boy!

One cool kid ready to surprise his friends!