What a counselor does...

So, if you're reading this, odds are you know me well enough to know I've taught middle school for the past 6 years. This year, however, I was blessed enough to change positions and become an elementary school counselor. Yes, that's right, elementary school. I used to believe this type of place would be my worst nightmare (the germs, wiping snotty noses, tying dirty shoes, grubby little hands, kids touching me...you get the idea), but I'm proud to say, I was wrong!
From the first day on, these kids have kept me rolling...I mean laughing my butt off! But they would probably say "uuuummmmmm, you said 'butt'" if they read that, so to put it in kid friendly terms, laughing my bottom off. When I come home and tell Michael and Paige about what the kids have said or done, they both tell me I need to write this stuff down so I don't forget...so this is my attempt to share some comical stories (while writing them down so I won't forget)!

On the first day of school, I had my first class of kindergarteners. They were scared, I was scared, we were all in the same boat (even if it was for different reasons). Since kindergarteners obviously have never been in school before, I thought it would be a grand idea to tell them what a counselor does. My *best* explanation was 'a counselor is a person who can help you with problems or listens when you need someone to talk to'. Immediately I had a sweet face with strawberry-blonde hair ever so slowly ease his hand into the air with a weary expression on his face. I asked him if he had a question, and he politely told me he had a problem and then ripped right into telling about it. He said, "Well, I've been having this problem...with, um, with...with diarreah. My mom keeps giving me medicine, but its not working and I still have that dirreah. Can you help me?" Oh my! He didn't give a second thought to what the other kids would think, in his mind dirreah was his biggest problem! It was all I could do to keep a straight face and not humiliate him by laughing... My first response was, "Do you need to go to the bathroom?" Geez. How counselorish.

On the second day of school, a teacher approached me and told me about one of her friend's kid (from the same class as the first day) who went home and told her mom all about her first day at kindergarten. On the first night, the little girl was attempting to watch a TV show after a long day at school, and the satellite went out. The little girl had obviously had a super long and stressful day because she went bonkers, crying and saying she needed to call a counselor. He parents couldn't understand where she heard about a counselor or had seen one, finally the little girl told them she just had to call the school counselor right then because 'at school today the counselor told us she could help us fix our problems'! Oh, if the satellite going out were my biggest problem, what a day it would be!

Although I love and miss my hormonal, onery teenagers from the middle school, I really love the innocence and sweet, trusting nature of these little fellas!