Sunday, November 9, 2003

Imer, seven year old student, purchased a Bayblade (toy) from a paletero. Assembly was needed, but Imer being a guy, the first thing he did was crumple the paper containing the instructions on how to assemble it! Can’t say the instructions would have helped much, though; they were in an Asian language! I didn’t know how to build it, so I asked two fourth-grade students to take care of it.

Enrique gave it a shot, but having forgotten how to build it, he handed it to the other kid, Ubaldo. Ubaldo worked with confidence, as if Beyblade-building was his trade. Imer watched attentively. He was growing excited with each piece that Ubaldo was placing together. After five minutes, the Beyblade had been assembled.

At this point Imer could have acted rude and asked to be given his toy, but instead, he handed Ubaldo the Beyblade launcher, thus giving Ubaldo the chance to use it first. Ubaldo proceeded to spin it; judging by the way the Beyblade spun, he had done a good job of building it.

Ubaldo handed Imer the toy, who then thanked him for his help. Ubaldo seemed satisfied for having been able to help a younger student. By the look on his face, he seemed to have responded, “No biggie.”

I loved the sight of this. The fact that Ubaldo is a student who often gets in trouble for behavior issues made it even more special. There he was, acting like a role-model, when he’s usually a bad influence even to his own shadow! I wanted to somehow reward his act, but how?!

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about kids is that they love money; quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies, and sometimes even pesos! You should have seen the look on Ubaldo’s face when I gave him a dollar. Heh, he seemed so shocked, I think he would have fainted if it had been a five… 🙂

Why did I write about this? Because I loved what I saw… one kid helping another, and the other kid being appreciative of it. Have you ever seen a first-grade student tying the shoelaces of another? Very nice stuff. 🙂

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