Recess and Stuff

Recess and Stuff

I watched the kids playing on the school playground. It was recess, I was in charge. Mostly I watched the flow, enjoying the kids playing and chattering. Some kids always wanted to talk to me but mostly they just played.

There were always a few kids to watch, a couple you had to deal with every day. It was a new year; I knew last year’s kids pretty well, but there were always new ones. One new second grader caught my eye pretty much daily. I’m patient, but this kid did annoying things. I hadn’t caught his name yet because it was always something little, just unacceptable. Rubbing dirt all over his clothes, filling his pockets full of wood chips, running after the girls with fake dog poo. I was starting to be amazed at the annoying things he thought up daily!

I also worked student pick up, each child needing to be signed out by a parent if they didn’t take the bus. As the kids waited in the halls one day, I stood monitoring the noise level. There that kid was singing Happy Birthday at the top of his lungs. “Cut it out!” I yelled. He stopped. Then literally, thirty seconds later, on the other side of the hall, again Happy Birthday at the top of his lungs!

“I said cut it out!” He looked at me like I had two heads!

“You did not…”

As I was about to speak to the little brat more sternly, his mother called to sign him out.

Deciding I really needed to know this trouble makers name, I wound my way over to look at the signature page. There he was, standing next to his double… John and Tim Taylor. Identical twins, and it was their birthday.

That poor mother…