little triumphs

One of the great things I have found about working in a school is that in the short time I have been there, I have got to know the wonderful children. 'Know' in the sense that I am learning more and more what makes them tick, what they find hard, the things they can do but just need a bit more encouragement to do things independently, their lovely little quirks. But there are some children who are so quiet, painfully shy, and avoid adult interaction, making it really quite hard to get to know them. So, it was to my delight when yesterday, I had two moments of quiet triumph as one boy allowed me into his world for more minutes than he ever has before, reeling off information about the magazine he had bought and how to play the game with it, and what was going to come with his new magazine next Wednesday. I was holding my breath as he spoke, as if breathing might break the magic of the moment. The other boy, it turns out, knows far more about bees than I ever would have imagined. Priceless.

It's just a pity that other incidents later in the day made me wonder why on earth I work with children, and why I would ever want to bring children into the world and subject them to all my mistakes and flaws.