~to be allowed to be children~

And so the last day of October is nearly done.  On this night of trick-or-treaters, we saw very few kids come by.  We weren't sure what to expect as far as numbers of children.  Our last count before turning off the light just now was a grand total of 7 kids in all.  Back in the old neighborhood in Kansas, it was nothing to see at least 50-75 kids drop by our part of town. Here there were not so many at all but one thing is for sure.

We tried.

Today was a busy day at school, one filled with excitement as kids came dressed in their costumes.  To say that our room was buzzing would be an understatement.  It was full of life!  I tried my best to keep some kind of semblance of a normal day going on.  We read stories about Halloween and jack o'lanterns.  For math we did some work with story problems that followed a Halloween theme.  At noontime, we had our assembly to finish up the Red Ribbon Week celebration.  By 2:00, several of our moms and a grandmother as well, came to school bearing all kinds of goodies for the kids to enjoy at their Halloween party.  There was noise and laughter, full bellies, and a lot of fun.  

It was nice to think that for one day kids could be kids.  In a world where they are expected to know far beyond what I used to know at their age, thank goodness there is a day, albeit quite a noisy one, where they can have fun and pretend.  

We call it Halloween.

One of the things that comes with the blessing of being a teacher for as many years as I have been, is the chance to enter the world where children live.  Sometimes if a person pays enough attention, they can actually begin to see that world through the eyes of those innocent kids.  As far as I'm concerned, their world is a pretty good one to live in.  Far too soon they will have to encounter all the problems that we grownups must face, and the innocence of their youth shall begin to slowly disappear.  

And so tomorrow it is back to normal once again.  The costumes will be put away to be passed on to another child in the next Halloween season.  Bellies that were filled with sugary sweets may not feel so good once the night before is over.  They will be tired and maybe a little bit on the grumpy side.  That is all to be expected. 

In 39 years I have encountered it many times. Kids in 2016 are no different than kids were in the late '70's.  As it was nearly 4 decades ago now, kids of today have just one need sometimes and really it is a quite simple one.  They need to be allowed to be what they are.

~children~

They are special blessings from the good Lord above.  This little one is just one of 19 reasons why a teacher called "Mrs. Renfro" goes to school each and every day.