Boo Hoo!

Last week when I went to pick up my kids from music, the teacher came out to greet me first. He usually gives me a hard time about being late, so I thought he was coming out to do that before I saw them. I was wrong. He came to tell me about how they were all crying. WHAT? Crying? Isn't it my job to make them cry? He explained that he taught them a blues song about a dog named Blue who dies (think Marley and Me). I thought he meant that a few of them had sad eyes and might have started a slight cry.

Boy was I surprised when my class began walking out of his classroom. I saw puffy red eyes and puffy faces on seven kids. They were crying audibly and their tissues were soaked with tears. I could not believe it. Because I though the teacher had been exaggerating, when I really saw them, all I could do was laugh. I wanted to roll on the floor laughing. Some of them would go, "I remember when my dog died booo hooo hoooo!" What do I say to them? "I am sorry your dog died and you related the song, get over it and stop crying?" Even I wouldn't do that.

We walked down the hall in a buddy-type line. All the criers had a friend rubbing their backs trying to make them feel better. Again, do I act completely insensitive and just tell them to get in line? Nope. Luckily, we had a bus evacuation drill and didn't have to get back to learning right away. But, as they were sitting on the bus, one would still be crying and look at another who had wiped away most of their tears, and then that one began to boo hoo again. It was quite ridiculous.

This was one of the hardest teaching moments in my life. I wanted to laugh or tell them to get over it, but knew those were both inappropriate responses. For once in my life, I didn't know what to say.