Recently, while substitute teaching a First-grade class, I asked the little students what they knew about rainbows. Immediately many opinions were offered, most having to do with “rain” or “clouds.”
One 6-year-old stomped towards me to be heard above the hub-bub of voices. With eyes flashing and defiance in his voice he said, “Rainbows are made by leprechauns, and that Is A FACT!”
Another young voice piped up, “And Leprechauns have to have a pot of gold with them or else it won’t work because they use the gold to make the rainbow.”
I thanked them for their ideas and popped a science video regarding rainbows into the VHS player. (Yes, this school still has VHS players along with DVDs.)
A few days later, while having a Face Time conversation with my 5-year old grandson I thought again about the confident and defiant leprechaun proponent in the classroom. I wondered where my grandson stood on the subject of rainbows. I told him what the students had said regarding leprechauns and asked him what he thought.
My boisterous grandson burst out laughing and shouted, “Leprechauns aren’t REAL!” Then without taking a breath he exclaimed, “…but if leprechauns were real, you know what I’d do? I’d kick them in the booty and make them slide right off that rainbow onto the ground, Ha,ha,ha,!” He bounced out of my view, giggling with delight.
I’m smiling. Kids are funny. Maybe we should remember to let our inner child out now and then, to state our opinions with confidence even if they are unpopular, to laugh at the Ridiculous and to be creative when faced with unusual circumstances. And then, laugh with joy at our own cleverness. Hahaha!
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PHOTO CREDIT: I wish I could give proper credit to the person who took this gorgeous rainbow photo, however, I found it at http://www.hdwallpaper.nu/rainbow-wallpapers. The website states– “Please use these images for personal and educational purposes only, since we do not have any record of the original authors.”
inspired2succeed 