The Real Reason You Should Be in the Classroom

A little background: About a month ago, La Nina informed me she no longer wanted to take snacks to school. Eating snacks was causing her to lose valuable recess time and she would prefer I just not pack them. After a couple of weeks of her not eating her snacks, I complied with her request, but each morning I'd ask if she wanted a snack and each morning she'd say no.

My day to volunteer in La Nina's classroom is Friday's. I typically drop off Maggie and head straight to Kindergarten, staying until it's time to pick up Maggie. Due to holidays, miscellaneous days off and a couple of conflicts, I missed every Friday in November and last Friday was my first day in about six weeks back with La NIna's class.

I like volunteering so much. It gives me a chance to interact with her classmates, watch her teacher in action and improve my Spanish. But best of all, I get to see La Nina with her peers and she seems to genuinely like me being around.

So, back to Friday...I'm in the class, quietly assembling workbooks in the back of the room, playing the role of fly on the wall, my favorite role of all. The teacher tells the kids recess and snack time are to be indoors due to the rain and they should get their food from their packs. Now the kids love this. Such a rare treat, free time inside. All the kids clamor to the area where I am working, grab their food then head back to their work tables. When La Nina's table is called, she stays at her table and raises her hand.

"Maestra," she says, "My mom forgot my snack again, can I get one of yours?"

The teacher says Yes and La Nina heads to a special snack cabinet, grabs a couple of handfuls of pretzels and sits back down. I own pretzels. I offered her pretzels that morning...what makes the teachers pretzels so damn appealing? I tell you what, they aren't mine. That little devil. I was half furious, half cracking up.

And then I realized, I was standing there facing the teacher, knowing there was no snack in stupid backpack. Defend myself? "But really, she said she didn't want a snack" sounded so guilty...especially when I knew there was no snack in the backpack. Damn.. La NIna had me.

Well, I kept quiet on Friday, as I don't want her to start editting herself when I'm in the room. And today, I packed the little devil a friggin' snack, which she didn't eat. But hey...I have proof I didn't forget next time I'm standing there, And oh yeah...Santa's decided he better bring her a coat too. See, La NIna hasn't wanted a warm winter coat, so I didn't buy her one. She never wore the coats I bought her in the past, and even balks when I make her wear a sweatshirt on chilly days, so I've debated the value in purchasing one. Well, let me tell you, I learned the value on Friday. And at least she can't tell the teacher, her Mother never bought her a coat. And this is the real reason you should volunteer in your child's classroom.