A True Story of How I Went from Hating Kindergarten to Aspiring to Be a Kindergarten Teacher: 3-Part Series

[Part 3] What the Unforgettable Mud Dumplings and a Smile Taught Me

By the time kindergarten started to feel like a safe place,
I was by that teacher's side almost every day.

One day, at the mud hill in the back of the garden, everyone was making loose mud dumplings with lots of water and throwing them at the wall of the mud hill
to make them go 'splat' and stick.
It was a game I'd never seen before and it looked fun, but...
Everyone was covered in mud...
'If the teacher finds us doing this, we'll get scolded,' I thought,
so I didn't join in.

Then the teacher came over...

'Oh no, we've been found. Everyone's going to get in trouble,'

I thought, but the moment she arrived, the teacher...

'Oh, that looks fun! Let me join in!'
she said with a beaming smile, and started playing along with us.

......???

I was so surprised I couldn't take my eyes off her.

The teacher got just as covered in mud as the children,
and then, with a smile, she handed me a mud dumpling
and asked, 'Want to try?'

It's okay to do things like this...?
It's okay to get dirty...?

That day, I got covered in mud with everyone else
and played until we were making a huge ruckus.
My heart felt warm deep inside, and it was the best time ever.

From that time on, I was able to play naturally with my classmates, too.

After that, the teacher continued to find many of my 'strengths'.

She chose me to give the representative speech at Sports Day, saying, 'You're good at speaking in front of everyone, so I chose you as our representative!' and I was able to deliver it well.

She noticed I was good at crafts, and I was able to play an active role in the art exhibition.

There were many other things, too.

I gradually gained confidence,
and started to feel like I could try all sorts of things.

As a five-year-old, I didn't know the words for it yet, but I felt one thing in my heart.

'A child's world can change this much just by meeting one adult.'

Kindergarten, which I had thought was a scary place, became a safe place, and I, who thought I couldn't do anything, started to think, 'I'll give it a try.' What the teacher changed wasn't me, but the world I was looking at.

The teacher was always smiling and having fun,
and there were times she would cry with emotion at school events.
Before I knew it, I loved her so much I couldn't help it.
Watching her back as she worked, I strongly felt, 'When I grow up, I want to be a teacher like her.'

That feeling that sprouted when I was five
never wavered, no matter how much time passed. I'm going to be that kind of teacher too!

The kindness and the joy of playing that day, the sense of security,
and the fact that she found my strengths.
The fact that she always faced me as 'me'.
Everything has become my starting point.

A True Story of How I Went from Hating Kindergarten to Aspiring to Be a Kindergarten Teacher (End)
↓ 15 years later...