Let Them Cry

Don't mess with a kid's crayons. Seriously. I thought I was going to lose my head after taking away two crayons from a student. I was actually the person who provided the crayons and limited each little hell-child to using four at a time. This wannabe teachers pet (the most annoying student I have) took six crayons which left just a few for the others. I saw this and immediately snatched two of his crayons while telling him he was only to have two. I should have given him the choice of which crayon I took, but I took the peach one and thus, suffered his wrath. Secretly, I was quite pleased when I saw the tears start flooding. I really don't like this kid. He's one of those annoying, know-it-all, loud mouths that will answer every question even though you aren't asking him. But his tears quickly turned into anger, which led him to the dark side. If he had sith powers, I would have been up against the wall in a choke hold. Fortunately, I'm the one in charge of the class and can either ignore or punish his outrageous behavior. I put him on lock-down in his desk and told him that he needs to learn how to share if he's going to stay in class. Granted, he had a right to be pissed at me for snatching his crayon, but he didn't follow the rules in the beginning and deserved punishment. I hope this little incident will shut him up for a while.

Another student cried in class yesterday. This time it was a girl who felt cheated out of a place at the front of the line out of class. She's always the most anxious kid at the end of class that persistently asks me if it is time to line up. "Teacher, line up?" When I saw that some of the other girls wouldn't give her a spot in the front, I paused and debated the options for a while. Do I make them all sit down and line up again politely, do I make her go to the back of the line, do I give her a spot at the front, or do I just wait until class is over and leave her out of the line. Before I could make a solid decision, the last option came to be, and the girl was in tears. Her cry only intensified when she knocked over a desk in her failed attempt to sneak in between other students on their way out. To be honest, I really didn't care that she was crying and just let her walk out of the class with no sympathy from me. These kids push and claw at each other to get in line every day in and out of class, so letting one of them cry without even getting in line is almost like punishment for all the time spent hurting others.

So what's the lesson learned from these little incidents? Kids can be evil and selfish little shits sometimes and they're going to cry when they don't get their way. Giving them sympathy is like validating their spoiled behavior and letting them cry can be a great reward to you. These spoiled shits need a little tough love every now and then.