Wednesday, May 17, 2006

i made a kid cry

at the end of rest time we go around and pick the quietest kids to pack up their beds first (just so we don't have everyone moving around at once cuz there's always a few that are alseep). there were 3 boys in a small area at the back of the room. first i told one to get up and then i picked a couple people in other areas of the room. i came back and told the second one to get up (the other boy was still fooling around a bit so i figured it might be good for him to just sit or lay still for a couple minutes). i walked away and then turned around a few seconds later to see the 3rd boy packing up his stuff too. i walked over and said (in a very quiet voice so i didn't wake the girl sleeping right near him) "matt*, i haven't told you to get up yet. you just need to sit for another minute and then when i see that you're quiet i'll let you know you can pack up" (mostly i just didn't want all 3 boys packing up at once cuz it would get chaotic and loud and they'd wake the sleeping girl near them). he dropped down on his bed and started crying like he was in extreme pain. i tried to calm him for a few seconds but that just made him scream more. the other staff walked over and just said that he's a bit sensitive sometimes (i'd never seen him cry before-- especially like this. he's usually a very happy, friendly kid). she tried to get him to stop by telling him just to take a deep breath and relax for a minute and letting him know that his friend on the other side of the room wasn't packing up yet either. that didn't work. he just kept on screaming and crying. surprisingly, the girl near him slept through it. after a minute or so (seemed like forever) he got himself just to the point of sniffling. by this time the 2 other boys had packed up and were playing quietly in another part of the room so i quickly told him it was ok to pack up before he went back to crying.
*name has been changed to protect the sensitive

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