KeishoZil

So I've been volunteering as a parent helper in Nadia's class. I don't want to post all of my reasons for doing that on a public blog, but if you're curious and want to have a long conversation ask me sometime. :)

But today, while I was there, the kids went to the "Holiday Shop". Now, I'm not a fan of holiday shops. Why in the heck are we having the kids spend money during school hours? I'll tell you why - Parent Teacher Association fundraising. But, my main reason for being against it is even though I hate it, I can't really feel good about sending my kids with no money. It would stink to be the only kid with nothing, the you have to stand there and watch all of the other kids buy things. It wouldn't be fun to be that kid.

So today, all the kids lined up with their money for the shop. One kid was crying. He had no money. He had to stand there and look at everything while all of the other kids were making their purchases. He was sobbing. I felt horrible for him. So, I snuck him a dollar and told him to find something he could buy with that.

Well, a few minutes later the teacher came over and made him give me back my dollar. She said came over to me frowning and shaking her head. She said, "We can't be giving him money. We don't know why his parents sent him with nothing. It could be he is being punished and we can't undermine that." She said she didn't know if he was being punished, but she wanted to assume that could be the reason, instead of maybe his parents didn't have the money or maybe they forgot. I was so taken aback!

Was I wrong to give the kid a dollar? I just found it really hard to see a kid sobbing becuase he was left out. What if he ws left out becuase his parents couldn't afford it? Or what if they just forgot. If I forgot to give my kid money for this and a parent gave my kid a dollar I would only feel grateful. I don't know. I feel pretty angry about what she did. I think it was just mean.