On March 1, Ionuţ – because that’s the boy’s name – went to kindergarten with martisoare for all his colleagues, but he also prepared one for the teacher. A chocolate bar. The boy’s mother thought that such a little martisor is more special and she will appreciate that they looked for a more special symbol of spring for her. He would find out at the end of the day how wrong he was.
Arriving at the kindergarten, the child – extremely excited, went to the teacher, wished her a beautiful spring and wanted to give her the sweet martisor. The lady, instead of returning the greeting, told him to take it back, that she doesn’t like chocolate, that she expected his parents to be more careful with it. However, she was quite “kind” telling the child that she was allowed to eat it all. And he could do it right then. The little one didn’t listen to her. He kept it intact and gave it to his mother telling her what happened.
It happened that I was with the kid’s mother when she picked him up from kindergarten and when he told her about the unfortunate episode. The kid’s eyes were wet and he was so sad. It was clear that he had cried. The mother asked the teacher if everything was ok and she said – extremely smiling: “of course yes!”. However, Ionuţ told his mother that the lady did not like the martisor and told his mother that after he ate his sandwich and went to throw away his napkin with shivers, he saw that there were more martisors in the trash can. The little one, who could not imagine that the lady had thrown them away, informed the teacher of their existence there, and she shrugged her shoulders carelessly.
I asked the mother why she doesn’t talk to the educator to tell her how bad such an attitude can do to a child, but she told me (with overflowing sincerity) that Ionuţ only has a few more months to spend at kindergarten and the discussion would not bring anything good! In fact, the lady could catch the cold on the child and, for this reason, make the little one feel bad on other occasions as well. He even revealed to me that on March 8th he will buy the lady an orchid and a bag to settle the situation. From the outside, it seems to me a totally wrong attitude. I beat my fists in my chest that I would never do that; that’s why nothing changes in this country. Then, my little girl’s precious eyes and her infectious smile come to mind and I think what I would do if I were to go through a similar situation… if I tried to change this sinful system by beating my child! After I thought about it, I wasn’t so outraged by my friend’s attitude anymore, although I then told her that it was her fault for what happened and that when we were going to stop thinking that it was the proverb “the bowed head is not cut by the sword” is true, we will live in a much healthier environment. I can’t understand why the lady didn’t wait for the little ones to go home and then do what she wants with the gifts from them and why she returned the sweet martisor to the little boy. He could return it to his mother, at worst. I don’t think that such teachers have anything to look for in education in 2016. But look, they exist and it doesn’t really matter what I imagined.
And when we think that we are sending our little ones to kindergarten to develop harmoniously, to learn to be empathetic, communicative, to get rid of shyness. At least that’s what we’re told. And so we come to believe. But no one tells us what we do with all the frustrations collected by the little ones in these first years of life from the very ones who are supposed to guide them in this beginning called life.
I was even more saddened by the reaction of a mother to whom I told this incident: “Don’t worry dear, no one killed him. It’s a boy! It must be strong. All the little ones have to ride. Life is not rosy at all. If we keep them in a glass globe what are we going to do when they meet the first hop in life?”. I know from her that she had a terrible childhood, full of yelling and beatings. And that’s how they find an excuse for her behavior.
But, parents, don’t forget that the adult of tomorrow takes shape in the first years of life. And if you want your little ones to be happy and people with a beautiful character, try not to tolerate such situations. Fight for those you gave life to! That’s the only way you’ll earn their respect. I assure you that you will be rewarded according to your involvement!
