Dinner Time

Dinner time conversation between my kindergarten teacher wife and her school counselor husband:

Wife: "Did you see what happened during breakfast duty in the cafeteria?"
Me: "I try and stay out of the cafeteria during breakfast duty"
Wife: "Some kindergartner vomited.. It was stinky and chunky... and the janitor was busy outside and so it just sat there looking nasty"
Me: "Huh."
Wife: "Yea, it was just too early in the morning to look at vomit. I called the janitor and told her that she just had to get in there."
Me: "Hmm. Let's pack our lunches for tomorrow."

Manners

There are about a bajillion different little job responsibilities that an elementary school counselor has (this is nothing compared to say a teacher, or principal, whose job responsibilities easily top the 5 bajillion mark). One of these is to teach "socially appropriate behaviors", which in non-academic language (or "layman's terms") means manners. Believe it or not, kids need manners.

You might not know this about me, but take my wife's word for it, I am definitely not an expert on this subject. As something of 20 something year old, male, I would rather let more veteran hands handle this sensitive topic. However, year after year I step up to the plate, give it my best, and do a few lessons on the topic of "manners".

I really value the conversations with my students that ensue during readings of "Mind Your Manners B.B. Wolf", "Dude, that's Rude!"  and other unrivaled works of esoteric literature. For example, during our latest foray into the world of "socially appropriate behaviors", one conversation went like this:

Me: "Alright first graders, who can tell me some reasons why we choose to show manners?"
First Grader: "We should always knock on doors before going in.."
Me: "..and why do we do that?"
First Grader: "Because Mom and Dad might be wrapping Christmas presents!"

School Counselors: protecting the sanctity of Christmas, one first grader at a time.