My Mother Writes

She was looking through old papers today, and…
...I came across a letter written by your 4 year old preschool teacher. It said you had hit a boy named John. You told her that sometimes John hit you first but not that day. You said you only meant to give him a little muscle but you had eaten all your spinach and you hit him instead.
She said she doubted that I had eaten any spinach. I said you ought to give a boy who admitted that he hit first credit for being a straight-shooter. 

2 comments:

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Were you bragging or apologising for hitting first? It matters.

Grim said...

It’s been a long time since I was 4, but from what I remember I was likely doing neither. I was probably just explaining because I was asked. I had the direct honesty of a child who doesn’t care what you think one way or the other. It took me a long time to learn to care about the opinions of strangers or teachers. I cared what my father thought, but not many people outside the family.

My mother likes to tell the story of how in first grade, they had to substitute a different bus one day. I flatly refused to ride it because I knew it was the wrong bus. They had to get my mother herself to assure me that I would get home. I wouldn’t take any other authority’s guarantee or command.