Sheryl and Sons

Sheryl and Sons
I told you they were big.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Lunchroom Lesson

The hottest ticket in town for the mothers at Romona Elementary school was a volunteer spot in the school cafeteria.  Every day they needed five mothers to help serve food and sell treats at the snack bar.  You would think we would have been deterred by the apron, gloves and hairnet, but this was not the case.  Nabbing a spot to spy on our children at school was the equivalent of tickets to a Springsteen concert.

When my son started first grade, I was anxious to see him in his new setting. The mothers of girls seemed to have insider information as to what was going on over there, but we mothers of boys knew nothing.  Because I was new to the school and not a PTA insider, I could not get a spot on the Cafeteria Calendar until well into November.

By that point in the semester, most parents had a general sense of how things were going.  While my son's teacher said that he was doing well, I needed to see for myself.  I wanted to see which friends he sat with and who he played with at recess.

Finally my day arrived, and I donned my uniform and found my place.  There was a bit of jockeying for position amongst the mothers, as there were two lines, and each mother wanted to make sure she served lunch to her child's class.  Finally, the first graders started coming through the line, and I spotted my boy.  He was smiling his beautiful smile, and said a loud hello to me so his classmates would know I was his mom.  The children were adorable and exceptionally polite, and I could see why this was such a popular assignment.

As soon as the children were done coming through the line, the volunteers were invited to take a lunch and join their children in the lunch room.  I quickly searched up and down the tables looking for my son.  I saw where most of the first graders were sitting, and I found a table of boys from his class, but my son was not among them.  I searched each and every table in the cafeteria, until finally I saw my son at the very last table, closest to the door, sitting all alone.

I approached my son cautiously, unsure of what I might say.  He looked up at me and smiled.

"How's your lunch?" I asked.

"Good!" he said.  "Are you going to eat your potatoes?" he asked, eyeing my tray.

"No," I said, "I got them for you."

We ate for a minute in silence.

"I saw Drew sitting at the other table with some boys from your class," I ventured. "I'm sure he would make room for you if you asked him."

"Why?" my son asked.

"Well," I said thoughtfully, "Wouldn't you like to eat lunch with the other boys?"

My son looked at me and cocked his head sideways, trying to understand what I was talking about.

"Mom," my son said in the voice one might use to explain something to a small child. "This is the best table---I am the first one out for recess!"

1 comment:

Kim S. said...

Adorable story - that would have broken my heart until I heard his reasoning. You have a smart kid!