Kids Say the Darndest Things

As you can imagine, as a teacher I had more than my fair share of humorous interactions with little ones! I went into crazy binge-cleaning mode this week and cleaned my bedroom top to bottom; bottom referring to the conglomeration of memorabilia underneath my bed. Never clean out memorabilia without expecting to spend hours looking through it. I came across a box of letters and artwork from former students and stopped to read them for some giggles.

One of my students, Jonathan, once ran up to me on the playground and excitedly said, "Look, Miss Petersen! I found a wood chip shaped like Oklahoma!"

Taylor told me that his jacket was "snowball proof."

Logan asked me the following question: "Is it against the law in Stockton to wiggle? Will you go to jail?" (Maybe a parent used this one during church...)

Chloe wrote me a lovely note with a white rock taped to it. It said, "Miss Petersen, This is a rock that I polished for 28 days. I hope you like it. Thank you for calling me Chlo-bug."

Zachary once asked me, "Miss Petersen...did you know that the Washington Monument was made out of marbles?" (2-6-02)

Blake wrote the following in a letter to the President:
"Dear Mr. Bush, I know you must work hard at the White House signing bills, making laws, and I appreciate that. I think you're a very good president to me and I think you're an honest man too. I will write to you when I have time but, you're not the only worker. I'm busy also and I wish I could visit you but they shut the White House down. When they open it again I hope to see you. From, Blake (2-7-02)

Another student scribbled out a letter on lined paper, and at the bottom it said "Let God Take Care of You." I'm sure this student meant to write something like "God Bless You," but it came out a little differently. I stopped and thought about that phrase. How often do I stop and LET God take care of me? How often do I feel stressed out because I'm trying to get everything done myself? What an unintentionally profound statement from a 7-year old. I thought it was beautiful, so I laminated it and taped it to my computer monitor. Now it is a daily reminder to "let go and let God." I need it. Leave it to a child to remind me.