I have a kidney bean shaped table in the back of the classroom where I meet with small groups of kids and sometimes kids one on one for an assessment. When kids come to the kidney bean shaped table it is an honor! They have the teacher captive and most of the kids are thrilled to have one-on-one attention from the Chief! So, I make it a habit to engage in some small talk before we start the testing so as to lighten the mood and help them feel comfortable. The student before me had a gaping hole in his mouth where a tooth used to be and he pried open his mouth saying, “See! I lost my tooth!”
This is big news when you are in your single digit years. Money accompanies this occurrence for 9 out of 10 kids. (No real hard data to back it up, people. However, I have taught for many years and rarely do I hear a kid say they didn’t get cold hard cash from the ‘ole Tooth Fairy)
Me: (Wearing the usual look of surprise and excitement), “How much did the Tooth Fairy leave?” (Every time I ask that I could sock myself for asking such a question. The emphasis in this question is on HOW MUCH, as if it means something if the Tooth Fairy leaves you a fiver over a single.)
Him: “Two one dollar bills!”
Me: “Wow! What are you going to do with it?”
Him: “Oh, I gave it to (He inserted a peer’s name in our room.)”
Me: “Oh? How come you did that?”
Him: “Cause I have enough money and he gave me a piece of candy.”
Me: (pressing further) “That was nice of him, but why did you think you needed to pay him?”
Him: “Cause he gave it to me before school the other day and I ate it. Then he said I could give him a dollar tomorrow cause the Tooth Fairy was gonna come to my house that night.” – (This happened on the heels of the student losing his tooth by a matter of mere minutes.)
Me: (eyebrows rising with a slight sense of panic – We had a sort of ring going on here right under my big fat nose and I didn’t know it!) “What? – When did he tell you to pay him?”
Him: “After I ate it.”
Me: “Did you want to pay him?”
Him: “Yeah, I have enough money already for Star Wars 3.”
Me: “Oh, but could you have saved the two dollars for something else later?”
Him: “No, I don’t need it. I have enough for Star Wars 3.”
Now I was at a crossroads, people. I had pre-judged student number two as a swindler in the making, but wasn’t sure how to help student number one come to the same conclusion without a full on jury trial.
I threw caution to the wind realizing we were not going to doing too much reading assessment at this time and called student number two over.
Me: “Tell me about the candy you gave (insert boy number one’s name) and the $2 he gave you.”
Boy 2: “Oh, he gave me the $2 cause I gave him a piece of candy on Tuesday.”
Me: “How did he know he was supposed to give you money?”
Boy #2: “I told him that he could just give me a dollar cause the Tooth Fairy paid him already.”
Me: “Did you tell him before or after he ate the candy you gave him?”
Boy #2: “After.”
Me: “Oh, why do you need the money?” (Probably wayyyyy out of my line of jurisdiction to ask such questions, but inquiring minds want to know.)
Boy #2: “Cause I need 19 cents to buy another box of candy.”
Me: “If I give you 19 cents, will you give the $2 back to him?”
Boy #2: “But if I give it back then I will need two dollars and nineteen cents. I already have two dollars.”
Well, the upshot of the whole exchange was that Boy #2 did in fact cough up the two dollars and I swore up and down to both of them that they were not in trouble. We did have a chat about how friendship usually works. I asserted that it is common place for friends to share a stick of gum or piece of candy and not expect each other to pay for it. Boy # 2 piped up, “Oh, yeah. My mom shares her gum with her friends all the time.”
Me: “Does she make them pay for it?”
Boy # 2: “Nope!”
Now, I run the risk of tooting my own horn here, but I do it often enough that this shouldn’t be too big of a surprise to anyone… It seemed right to put the academic task aside to address the more pressing issue that had emerged. Seeing both boys smile as they walked away from the table and boy number one stuffing two dollar bills, which he had been re-united with, back down inside of his sock was quite satisfying. What I was left wondering was why is it so easy to explain complex concepts like this to six year olds and yet it remains so difficult as an adult to be so willing to change your thinking when someone lays the facts out in front of you….…
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