Marriage Advice from 2nd Graders

This week is my first week teaching a whole class by myself all day.  I won't lie, the first day was a little rough.  I made the rookie mistake of being more concerned with the kids liking me and having fun than with setting boundaries.  This is a rare mistake for me;  I think the problem was that, since MeySen is an  after-school program for kids, there is a push for teachers to make learning fun and interactive and meaningful.  While this is a good thing, I was overly worried about being "fun" and "nice" yesterday and my class got way out of hand. At the end of the day I vowed that Wednesday would be different.


And it was.  Today was a much better day!  I was able to find the balance between fun and serious that is essential to building rapport with students while maintaining a safe and productive classroom.  I really enjoyed teaching today and I enjoyed getting to know the kids.  I am in two 2nd grade classrooms this week, so I will get to teach students that I will have in April.  Holy cow did I miss teaching!  I am so thankful to be here and to be doing something that I love and am good at. The kids are sweet and well behaved (when you give them those boundaries) and they crack me up. 

Today I got some hilarious marriage advice from some of the 2nd graders.  I wrote "Mrs. Lauren" on the board because some kids were having a hard time pronouncing my name.  (Some of them were confusing me with Ms. Logan, another teacher, and calling me "Mrs. Lorgan" -- also cute!) 
   "Mrs. Lauren not Ms. Lauren?" some kids commented.  I asked them if they knew the difference, and a few kids knew I was "Mrs. Lauren" because I was married.    
  "You are married? Really?" they asked. 
  "Yes," I said.
  "How many children?" they asked.
  "I do not have any children," I said.  This was a very, very, very strange concept for them to grasp.  They associated marriage with children and just could not comprehend how I could not have kids.
  Then one girl gave me advice, "Mrs. Lauren, you need to make babies RIGHT NOW!" 
  Luckily my back was turned because I CRACKED UP!  It was hilarious!   I'm still laughing about it!


Later in the class, when we were reading "The Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe", one of the children told me that I was the old woman who lived in the shoe.  I reminded him that could not be true because I didn't have any children.  They again suggested I work on this problem lol.


Later one girl asked me if I liked Winnie the Poo.  When I replied yes, she told me that I should marry him because I liked him. I reminded her that I already had a husband so I couldn't marry Winnie the Poo.  She told me, "You can have two husbands, it will be okay!" 


While I thoroughly enjoy my students' advice on marriage, I don't think I will follow it.