THE WHITE BOY

So I work now. I teach preschool tumbling... and beginner tumbling sometimes ... and I supervise children's open gym... and I host birthday parties... and I manage an ebay store for the gym owner... and we weed the gym property... and staring next month we clean the gym... and whatever else comes up. It's good. Really. It's a lot... but it's good. There are about a million worse things that I could be doing. Plus my kids get free lessons, and I get to have Crewzer in one of my classes... SO fun! And the girls help me in several of my classes. I get paid well, and I'm enjoying the atmosphere of the gym. I'm definitely NOT a gym teacher. I was just bailing the gym out of a bad situation. They had a preschool teacher that... well... sucked. They were in a bind, and so was I. I have never been so stressed about money in all of my life. So being stressed about money FAR outweighed my fear of teaching something that I'm not so good at. Turns out- I'm not so bad either. It's working out well. I won't be teaching tumbling next fall, however. I will change over to dance classes this summer. I'm looking forward to being in my comfort zone... and working with an older age group! In the mean time- preschoolers are entertaining to say the least. My class tonight went something like this... no joke.

Gabby: (little black 4 year old) I have a mom. She's on vacation.

me: Oh that sounds like fun. I bet you'll be glad when she gets back.

gabby: Well, no. She's not really on vacation. That's just what they keep telling me. She's in jail.

me: Oh goodness. Well, I'm sure you miss her.

gabby: She got in a car wreck then went to jail. That's when they said she went of vacation but she didn't.

me: Well, it's still okay to miss her.

Later... (Crew is also in this class- he's the only boy)

gabby: Why'd you let that white boy go before me?

me: Well, it was his turn to go first. You went first last time. And let's not call him 'white boy' his name is Crew.

gabby: Yeah but I don't like white boys.

me: Okay Gabby, let's look at some things. Does he have fingers like you?

gabby: yes

me: Does he have eyes like you?

gabby: yes

me: It doesn't matter what color anyone is. We have a lot of things that are the same.

gabby: He's not the same. He doesn't match me.

me: That's good. The world would be really boring if we all matched each other.

gabby: Well I still think he's just a white boy, and I want a dragon fly to get him.

me: We are going to work on being nice to everyone... especially the people that don't match us.

gabby: Alright. I love you.

me: I love you too.