flashbacks galore

i keep having flashbacks to my time in mexico city.


last week while liz & i were at brands park we needed to deal with some misbehavior.  one boy in our session was a kindergartner, brady, and a chatty one at that.  in a classroom full of fourth graders he stood out.  


all the sudden one of the boys asks urgently to go to the bathroom.  then brady starts urgently saying, "they're going to tell on me."  


liz just looks at me.


luckily i have experience with classroom management.  not a lot.  i was never very good at it, but i knew i needed it now.


i took brady out of the room with me and he instantly bursts out crying.  totally afraid i'm going to tell the park staff.  but that's not how i roll with 5 year olds.  i like to talk.  we talked about what he did and why he did it (he made a mom joke)  in between his bursts of crying.  finally, i got him back on track with why that was bad and what he was going to do now.  that works because later on if they do it again i ask if they remembered what we talked about and they shape up.  


but here's the flashback


i got up (i always get down to their level) and started heading back into the room.  he pulled me in for a hug!  that was the most essential part of my talks with my kiddos in mexico.  we always hugged at the end.


yes, he was a hugger.  all week he would just come up to liz & i out of the blue and hug us.  also reminded me of my kids.