Kid Logic

The best thing about working with kids is that you're often reminded that life is, in fact, far less complicated than we make it seem..

I have this kid, he's very smart. At the start of the year, however, his mom warned me that he's diagnosed with ADHD, and that unless I find a way to click with him, it'll be a hard year for both of us.
Luckily, we hit it off and he has been a joy to have in class- very enthusiastic, and always has something to offer!

For the past week however, I noticed a major change in his attitude in class. The enthusiasm faded and instead he has been spending the entire lesson cutting erasers into tiny pieces and throwing them at the other students!

I voiced my concerns to his mom during the PT conference, she's such a sweet mom. We spent at least 15 minutes worrying about the reason behind his changed behavior. She said it might be that some kids are upsetting him, or maybe he's simply not into the new unit we've started. I wondered if I had accidently upset him since he's extra sensitive. This guessing game went on and on, until we finally decided that she'd better go home and have a talk with him to get down to the root of the problem. I told her I'll be calling her on Saturday to get feedback.

Today in class he was back to his old self, jumping up when he knows the answer and offering stories in the middle of the lesson that have absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand!:) I was very glad.

I called his mom to enquire what the "problem" was and how she dealt with it.

"Oh it's nothing" She said, and went on to relate the conversation she had with her son.

Mom: Is anything upsetting you in the science class?
Khaled: no
Mom: Did the teacher upset you or something?
Khaled: no
Mom: don't you like the new unit you're studying
Khaled: no I like it.
Mom: then why did you spend the last two lessons throwing erasers at the students.
Khaled: Well, a boy started it. He threw a piece of eraser at me and so I had to throw one back at him. Then I discovered it was fun, so I kept on doing it.
Mom: well it's really upsetting your teacher, do you want to upset Ms. Mariam?
Khaled: no
Mom: then can you please stop doing that?
Khaled: okay

Simple. Logical. Honest.

Don't you just love kids?