A New Pair of Shoes

Today finally brought the work week to an end. Whew! I always have a difficult time going back to work after a break. The week started off well. One of my kiddos did come back with more of an attitude problem than he normally has. However, a very interesting thing happened with him Thursday morning.

After dealing with his attitude Monday through Wednesday I was VERY close to loosing my cool with him. Wednesday afternoon when it was almost time to go home he had even rolled his eyes (which isn't new), huffed, turned his back to me and stomped away WHILE I WAS STILL TALKING TO HIM! I didn't allow myself to send him to the office then because I was really upset. (I try to not send them with I'm feeling that way.) Anyway, Thursday morning he had started his normal routine of huffing, moaning, and rolling his eyes at me. By the third occurrence at 9am I decided I needed to see if a good paddling would help, so I sent him to the office.

Thankfully our principal was able to talk to him and discipline him. However, the next thing he did is what REALLY made my day (and the rest of the week!)

When my student came back from seeing him we talked about what happened. I was interested to hear what happened because for the first time in a long time this child seemed as if his attitude had actually improved!

After he told me that he was in fact paddled and apologized for being disrespectful I asked him about some new shoes he was now wearing. He went on to tell me that our principal had given them to him! Trust me when I say that this kid had been lacking a good pair of shoes for a while.
We then talked about how nice they were and how he could take care of them so they would stay that nice.

Throughout the rest of the day and on into today he showed a better attitude and I truly believe it was because he had something he felt proud of. I even spotted him wetting toilet paper with water in the bathroom after P.E. and cleaning the dirt off of them!

I've always believed that children will learn more when their needs are meet; I just never thought that a simple thing like a pair of shoes would be it! I know this seems like a silly topic to write about, but I feel like this is going to be one of the those stories that will stay with me for a long time.

Guess I leave it at that. Or would you like to hear my rant about the mom who did her 2nd grade son's homework? Nah...never mind. Thanks for reading.