Duty Mom Duty

When Eric was in Grade 2, and parents were still not allowed inside the school due to Covid, I volunteered as a "duty mom." 

These are the moms who come to the school at lunch and supervise the kids' eating period and outdoor playtime. Yes, they have to wear a florescent reflective vest, and they have to stand out in the rain, and they have to enforce the rules, but mainly, they just get to spend time with the kids. I would have done it sooner, but I had little Eric at home, and then I started working when he started kindergarten, and then Covid.

Anyway, I absolutely love this job. Not only do I get to see Eric at school, but I also get to learn all the kids' names, see who plays with whom, talk to the teachers, see inside all the classrooms, get to know other moms--it is just the best (okay, except when it's cold and windy, or raining really hard, or that one time when a kid threw a rock at my parked van and broke the window).

 

When I first started, I was going through a bit of a rough time, but whenever I saw all the kids running out of the school to play, I could not stop smiling. There were literally hundreds of them RUNNING to the playground or soccer fields, so excited just to be outside. 

Since then, I've given out countless Band-Aids and hall passes, helped to zip up coats and find lost mittens, helped to resolve many conflicts, and told dozens of kids that no, unfortunately, they're not allowed to climb the trees (because of that one guy who fell out and broke his arm). My favorite, though, is the funny and heartwarming things kids tell me. 

One time a little girl came and told me that a fairy had visited the playground. Then, she and her friend excitedly led me to a place where someone had written some graffiti on the play structure (luckily something innocent like "I was here"). I realized that in these children's minds, the writing was something magical that could only have been done by a fairy. That was literally the only explanation they could think of!

Another time, a little boy from our church recognized me and, after looking at me with his face scrunched up in thought for a minute, asked, "Are you from Primary?" The rest of the school year, he would call out across the playground, "HI, SISTER LAMB!" and introduce me to all his kindergarten friends.

Earlier this week, a group of Grade 4 girls showed me the miniature snowman they'd made from the one centimeter of snow that had fallen, complete with a baby carrot nose (which they told me they'd found on the ground!). Another group was trying to make a giant snowman that was more woodchips than snow :). I helped them roll it when it got too heavy.

Often kids who are lonely walk with me for a few days or weeks until they find friends their age to play with. The past few days, a little girl in Grade 2 has been right by my side, telling me all about her life. Yesterday, she told me she wants to be a doctor or a firefighter when she grows up. I commented that those are both jobs where she could help a lot of people. Then she said that whenever she sees an ambulance pass by with its sirens on, she prays for the person inside, "asking God to please, please help them to be okay." Her sincerity was so sweet.

She also asked me if the picture on my ID tag was taken "a long time ago" when I was "younger" (it was, in fact, taken just over two years ago!). Children can be pretty honest....

But, even though I might be looking older, I think being around kids--talking with them, spending time outside and just being at the elementary school--keeps me feeling younger :)