Classroom Zoo #24 - Tears

Whether it was above average height, overall wackiness, or general clumsiness, I knew a transition to kindergarten would be an adjustment. I knew I had to be careful where I stepped as falling on a 5 year old could be quite problematic. I knew my corny and often confusing attempts at humor would probably not go over well with little friends who don't quite understand sarcasm and irony. I knew I would make changes to how I teach, how I help, and how I listen. I wasn't quite prepared for the overall emotional fragility that I was walking myself into. I assumed there would be more tears at the kindergarten level, or at least the tears would be different. I had plenty of criers in upper elementary but for reasons that I would not expect at kindergarten, such as bullying, stress over homework and testing, hormones, etc. Kindergarten crying is much more, how I say, unexpectedly uncontrollable. Boogery noses, stuck zippers, and loud noises often lead to outbursts. So too does a child's misinterpretation of a direction as a punishment. I once told a child to "be a listener" and you would have thought I had run over her puppy.