D and Y skip happily down the hall.
"Dr. Carol, Dr. Carol, I got chosen for BRAVO," chortles D.
"Me too," Y chimes in, "and X (her brother) is mad because he didn't get chosen."
BRAVO is our school's character ed incentive program. Kids who are caught showing positive character traits get a ticket. The tickets go in a big bucket, and once a month there is a schoolwide drawing (lots of the primary grade teachers do them a lot more often). Kids whose names are drawn go to the library to select a prize- anything from a bouncy ball to magic pencils that change color when you rub them to hot cheetos for the older kids.
I exclaim over their good fortune and the two skip off toward the library.
A few minutes later, when I am doing my after school duty, I run into D again. She has one of those long infinity scarves looped around her neck, several times.
"Look, Dr. Carol, look what I won! Look what I won at BRAVO."
She holds the gray and brown and orange patterned scarf out from her neck, so I can admire it more fully.
"Do you want to try it on? You can try it on," she asks, with utmost generosity.
D unloops the scarf from her neck and gently slides it over my head.
I hold the scarf up. "What do you think? Does it look nice?" I ask.
All of a sudden D looks a little worried.
"Well, it doesn't really match," she says pointing to my navy patterned skirt and white blouse.
"No?" I tip my head in question.
"No," she insists. "It doesn't really match."
I can tell she is getting more concerned, so I pull the scarf over my head, and hand it back to her.
"Well maybe it matches a little," she says in relief, pointing to the white manufacturer's tag. "See that's white and you are white," she says pointing to my shirt.
I have to agree that the white label matches my white shirt.
"Maybe you can wear my scarf someday," she says, darting away to the after school program.
I have a feeling I will be waiting a little while for my turn.
4 comments:
Sharing can be really hard!
How typical of a child - at one moment to feel like sharing, and the next to want a "take-back" immediately. The fact that she worried about you taking the scarf speaks volumes about the immediate ownership she felt for the scarf. I'll bet she wears it a lot in the coming days. ;)
Kids are funny! Her idea for you to try it on, then she's not too sure about it. I guess she thought you'd run off with her scarf.
Aw, it's so sweet that she wants you to share in her accomplishment. This age is precious. The next moment she's giving you fashion advice, like real honest to goodness fashion feedback... and then she softens all of it. She totally admires you.
Post a Comment