Grateful Friday--recess duty edition

I had recess duty yesterday.  Recess duty isn't bad at all...in September.  I will be whiny about it in January.   

3rd and 4th grades have recess together and I like it because all the 4th graders are former 3rd graders and all the 3rd graders are current 3rd graders.  These are my people.

Yesterday two girls stood next to me all recess.  One is one of my students and she told me all about some family drama at her house the previous night involving a recalcitrant teenage sister who didn't come home on time and her mom who was worried and called her dad and her dad who had to come home early from work.  It was quite a thing.

The other girl had been doing school online but has switched to in person and yesterday was her first day back.  (The district said you couldn't switch mid term.  We're totally letting anyone switch that wants to.)  She wasn't in my third grade class last year but she knew me and I was a safer bet than the new 4th grade teachers she doesn't know.  Her best friends are doing school online.  She confided she didn't have anyone to hang out with.  

So the three of us chatted.

Then a third grader came up to me (not mine but he comes to me for reading--and hugs, occasionally).  He was near tears because a 4th grade boy had knocked him down on the soccer field.  The offending 4th grader is a big (seriously, he's bigger than most sixth graders) boy of Tongan descent.  He's also super charismatic and a really nice kid.

I walked over with the injured party.  "Did you knock him down?" I asked.

The 4th grader looked sheepish.  "Yes."

"You are big and strong," I said to him.  "You have to be careful."  Then I pulled out a gem that Braeden's friend Dillon said to Mark once.  Braeden and Dillon were playing video games at our house and Mark was a preschooler and his main goal in life was destruction.  Dillon said, "Mark, don't use your strength for evil.  Use it for good."

The 4th grader seemed to appreciate Dillon's wisdom as well.

Third grade goes in five minutes before fourth grade so I blew my (Fox 40-- Adam insisted I have a quality whistle) whistle and the third graders came running.  At the same time, the soccer ball went over the fence.  The children have been strictly trained that they are not to leave the playground for a stray ball.  The fourth grade teachers were in a tight knot, visiting, oblivious to anything happening on the playground.  

So I marched across the field and was greeted gleefully by my former students.  Mrs. Davis! I was there to rescue the ball!

They indulgently called for me to kick it over the fence knowing I wouldn't and probably couldn't at that.  They were right on both counts.  I lobbed it across and they cheered and let me tell you elementary students are so easy to please that it can go straight to your head.

By the time I got back to my class, they were standing docilely in a straight line outside my classroom door.  I'd propped the door open with a chair because I don't have a key to the outside door.  My students could have gone inside and flipped over desks and raided my candy stash but no, they were just standing there waiting for me like the little angels that they are. 

With all the things in life that are out of control and stressful, I'm grateful for a little recess duty.  I can be the person to stand by when you're tentative with friends.  I can be the confidant of family drama.  I can seek reparations against the big kid who knocked you down (the 4th grader apologized nicely and all was forgiven).  I can retrieve the ball that has gone beyond reach.  

I can't do a lot of things, but I can do some things.  Every shoe I tie and bandaid I apply is good for my soul.  I can be a fixer.  I can be a helper.