Why I work with kids...

Image courtesy wikipedia.org

Years ago when I was a teacher on Year 3, I read Roald Dahl's, Matilda, to my class. There's a classic paragraph in Chapter 2 where Dahl describes Matilda's mother, Mrs Wormwood, as 'a large woman whose hair was dyed platinum blonde except where you could see the mousy-brown bits growing out of the roots'. As we were examining Dahl's inimitable writing style and skills of exquisite description I went to some lengths to explain what this meant. One little boy shoots his hand up in the hair and says 'like yours, Ms Sands'. Needless to say I went directly to the hairdresser after school that day.

Kids say the funniest things. They don't mean to be funny but their observations on life are often astonishingly accurate. They state the obvious with such innocence and with such clarity that you just can't help but laugh. All through my career I have wished I recorded the things kids have said to me - of course, I haven't, and I've probably forgotten the funniest ones.

This afternoon in the Drop Off/Pick Up Zone a little girl said to me, 'Ms Sands, I love your shoes and your dress and your watch and your bracelet and your hair and everything...' Yep, this was just what I needed on a Friday afternoon at the end of a long week of meetings and other boring stuff.

And this is why I work with kids... It's why all of us work with kids - you just have to be sure you've done your hair and you've got your good shoes on.