Finding Neverland

"Grownups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

Now I know why they call it the wonder years. Those years when you're busy being a child to be anything else. I thought I couldn't stand children, and I struggled throughout my present schooling (a career shift, if I must say) that this is a contradiction in my character I cannot seem to fathom. We were only given a short time to teach and I thought I would breeze through this course and I wouldn't be affected by the children at all.

I thought wrong.

There's no need to ask now why teachers seem to aged well. They are surrounded with wonder every day and you cannot simply walk past it without letting it have an effect in your life. It's like walking in a path full of flowers, blooming right before your very eyes. You couldn't take your eyes off it and for a moment, time stopped. Then, another wonder will catch your eye and so on. It's a constant flagging of your attention to the wonder that is all around you permeating everything they touch. And I was so relieved to find out that I like children. I like being around them and I like seeing them learn and grow. I just hadn't found an opportunity to be around children before.

Everyday, I hear outlandish questions that were often voiced out. Even more outlandish answers were given, and not in the voice of speculation, but with a tone of reason, as if his answer is the right one. Observations of the tiniest detail like chin hair, tartar on teeth and lies on the head are food for gossips, but gossips of children are not done in whispers behind the person's back, oh no, they say it out loud to anyone who might care to listen, not thinking of sensibilities. Crying will ensue of course, and then I have to tell them to mind their classmate's feelings, and that it is not right to announce to the world that someone has tartar on their teeth. Then, they will say sorry, will hug each other and I will find them playing jackstones at the corridor later.

That's child's life.

Looking for a volunteer is no difficult task. Ask college students or grownups if anyone would care to lead the class in a dance, and all will shrink away from the teacher. But in elementary, kids will fight who gets to lead, that we, teachers have to choose at least 3 girls and 3 boys. Ah, the joy of teaching children. I ask if anyone can sing Pamela with matching dancing steps and everyone was standing on their feet in seconds. The teacher say we practice dancing Totoy Bibbo, and everyone is moving their hips, dancing enthusiastically as if they are entering a dance contest. And their most favorite time in school? Role playing. Grownups don't care much for role playing, such a waste of time when you can give the gist of the story with two lines or three. But their faces lit up when you announced that they have to present the story in a role play. And no one wants to be props manager either, everyone has to have a speaking part, or an acting part. Tee hee. You should see them acting their parents' occupations. I laughed the whole afternoon.

I thought my patience is thin. Maintaining the straight line during flag ceremony has never been more difficult a task. A girl will whisper something to the girl at her back and they will giggle mercilessly. A boy's attention will be caught by an older girl. Two boys keep shoving at each other, and so on and so forth. Pretty soon, I learned to turn a blind eye to minor things and just let them be. They are children after all. I wouldn't be content standing stiff for 30 minutes under the sun if I were them. I just don't let blatant disregard for rules pass by without a word or two with the pupil.

I thought the only thing that will come out of this is that I will be able to teach them something. I was wrong about that too. They taught me things I never knew about myself. They taught me patience, love for wonder, lack of inhibition (I was dancing Totoy Bibbo with the best of them!) and that teaching children means learning a thing or two about yourself every day.

Best of all is the sound of laughter. There were tears but laughter almost always follows.

Ah, the corporate world really is another world from this.