"All I Ever Really Needed to Know
I Learned in Kindergarten"
Robert Fulgham

Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.

These are the things I learned..

Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life.

Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup? The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup - they all die. So do we.

And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.
The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation.
Ecology and politics and sane living.

Think of what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world had cookies and milk about 3 o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and cleaned up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

I’m Thankful I’m a Teacher!

When I am introduced as a teacher, I generally hear a very flat, “Oh.” I have never been certain whether that is an expression of sympathy, pity, or disinterest. Always I wish I had time to explain to them like this:

Yes! I’m a teacher and I love my job!
Where else could I have my limited wardrobe complimented or hear someone say, “You sing pretty?”
Where else would a handsome and very young man put his arms around me and ask, “Do you know I love you?”
Where else could I eat a soiled cookie from grimy little fingers and not become ill?
Where else could I have the privilege of wiggling loose teeth and receive the promise that I may pull them when they are loose enough?
Where else could I guide a chubby little hand that might some day write a book or important document?
Where else could I get to play outside, laugh, sing, read and get paid for it?
Where else could I forget my own aches and pains because of so many scratched knees, bumped heads, and broken hearts that need care?
Where else could I forget about taxes and our country’s political problems because Josh isn’t adjusting as he should and Margo needs help with her math?
Where else could my mind stay as young as with a group whose attention span is so short that I must always keep a bag of tricks up my sleeve?
Where else could I feel so GOOD at the end of each day because I made a child smile, taught a child to read, helped a child believe in herself, gave a child a dream, and made this world a better place.

Yes, I’m a teacher and I LOVE my job!