Sometimes It's Hard to Wait

One of my kindergartners came to school wearing his brother's old Cub Scout T-shirt, neckerchief and neckerchief clip. He was so proud to be wearing it, especially the neckerchief.

After lunch, the kids have a designated opportunity to use the restroom before we go to the playground. This child went in but long after all the others were back in line and ready to go, he did not appear. I sent a boy to check on him and the answer was that he was not ready to come out. Minutes passed. I led the class in reciting the alphabet and counting to 100 and counting by 10's to 100. We played rhyming games and phonics games. Still he did not come out to join us.  It had been fifteen minutes and he was not out. It was then that I remembered he had complained of a stomach ache before lunch. I feared the worst. I led the whole class inside to the bathroom where I knocked.

"What do you need?" I asked.
I was totally unprepared for his answer:
"I can't get my neckerchief on."
He had been trying all that time to get his neckerchief on!

I said, "Come on, we can do that on the playground."

He said, "I can hardly wait to be a Bug Scout!"

So, that's when I lost it.
He truly thought "Cub" was "Bug."