The children returned to school after Thanksgiving break. Brian’s mom, Mrs. G, pulled me aside. “I have something funny to share with you,” she smiled.
She went on to tell me about the car ride home from school the day before Thanksiving. Brian was buckled in the back seat with a macaroni necklace draped around his neck.
His mom complimented him, “Brian, I really like that necklace you made in school today.”
Brian grimaced and mumbled, “Miss Theresa killed it.”
Not quite sure what she had just heard, Brian’s mom asked, “What did you say, Brian?”
“Miss Theresa killed it.”
Glancing in the rear view mirror, Mrs. G. noticed the troubled look on Brian’s face.
Mrs. G went on to tell me how this conversation continued all the way home, going back and forth and around in circles until she finally realized what Brian meant.
You see, I had told the children that I DYED the macaroni to make it different colors. Yes, I had dyed it with food coloring.
But Brian, being a four year old child who hears everything literally, heard me say that I DIED the macaroni- that I killed it.
Poor Brian must have sat through circle time wondering why I had to DIE the macaroni. This probably weighed heavily on his mind as the day progressed. Why, oh why, did Miss Theresa have to DIE the macaroni?
Mrs. G and I got a chuckle out of this. I learned a valuable lesson that day. Four year olds think and speak literally.
This happened in one of my first years teaching four year olds. It has been over twenty years since Brian told his mom “Miss Theresa killed the macaroni.”
Since then I have never once told the children that I dyed the macaroni.
“See this macaroni? I colored it to make it pretty for the necklaces we will make today…”
Love it!