The right to suddenly not like string cheese even though it’s been your favorite school snack for three months
The right to refuse to wear any other shoes but the very dirty velcro sneakers with “just a little green stripe” on them
The right to refuse to share any blue Magna-Tiles with Ella unless Ella shares red Magna-Tiles with you
The right to call your teacher “Mrs. Yellow” because she’s wearing a yellow shirt.
The right to sit on the side of the room in gym because you are feeling a little nauseous from eating all of Liam’s fig newtons in exchange for your string cheese
The right to zone out during “Caps for Sale” because you already read it every night at home four times in a row
The right to ask your teacher to hold your hand on the way to the bathroom because you had a dream you got lost and you don’t want to get lost
The right to paint a face with no nose so that it never has to smell anything stinky
The right to quietly paint one of your palms green
The right to wait your turn nicely to wash paint off your hands and marvel as you watch the water in the sink turn green
The right to draw a giant, oblong chalk circle on the blacktop and declare “This is a poop.”
The right to start a chain reaction of kids drawing circles and chanting “Poop! Poop! Poop!”
The right to sit quietly inside until you stop laughing and calm down.
The right to nap holding Liam’s bear and Liam naps holding your bunny
The right to put your jacket and hat on a little early just in case your mom comes to pick you up early
The right to move a chair to the door when no one is looking to peek outside the little window to see if your mom is there
The right to pace around a little when you wait for your mom, then kill time by lining up the books on the bookshelf in size order.
The right to ask your teacher if she could get more “medium books.”
The right to drop the books on the floor when you see your mom.
The right to run right into her chest and almost knock her over.
The right to be kissed and kissed and sniffed and hugged.
The right to say “I found you!”
The right to say “I missed you so much!”
The right to say “I drew a poop.”
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Some things more important than the right to bear arms
And maybe, just maybe, the right to come home from school alive because no one showed up with an assault rifle.
Thank you for this. As always, Beth. This just hit all the right spots. We must do what we can to make this world safer for everyone.