Southern Belle

I got a new friend last week, to be affectionately called Southern Belle. She just moved her from Florida and bless her heart, these Midwestern falls are too darn cold for her! She spends all day shivering, telling me eleventy-seven times that she is "cawld", and pulling her jacket a little tighter around her frail little shoulders. Meanwhile those of us who have always lived in this neck of the woods feel like we are enjoying a unseasonably balmy fall, with temps still in the high 70s and low 80s every afternoon. What is poor Southern Belle going to do when winter arrives? Especially if we have severe winter storms like the last couple of years! Can she survive 17+ inches of snow in 24 hrs topped by 4 inches of ice?

Southern Belle is a sweet girl, with excellent manners. I was actually raised by my grandmother, a former Southern Belle herself, and those good manners that are drilled into children in the South (yes ma'am, no sir, please, thank you, etc) are much more important to me than to most of my Midwest counterparts. So the fact that Southern Belle actually THANKS me for handing her a worksheet, and says "please may I go use the restroom ma'am?" makes me want to hold her up in front of the rest of the class and say "See this? THIS is what y'all are supposed to act like!"

However, Southern Bell does have her annoying little foibles. First and foremost, she is really not that interested in making friends with the other children. She would much rather follow me around, asking a zillion questions, and observing intently whatever it is I might be doing (even if I'm just idly standing there supervising recess). I try to tell myself that she's still new, she's intimidated by the other kids, and that as the oldest child who's younger siblings are both under 2 (which means she was an only child until recently) she is just more used to interacting with adults. Still, I find myself mildly annoyed when I trip over her for the 14th time that day and gently-but-firmly urging her to go find someone to play with. Someone? Anyone? Baby girl, I'm not your friend, I'm your teacher! Southern Belle's other somewhat annoying tendency is a true southern belle trait of being a fragile little flower. When she is thirsty, she cannot wait, she must have water right now or she will grasp her throat, swallow with contorted expressions of pain, and look at me with such distress in her eyes you would think she had just crossed the Sahara without a canteen. When she is hungry she will tell me approximately seven million times in this faint voice "My, Mrs. Kindergarten, I am just sooooooooo hungry! How much longer did you say it was until lunch?" When informed that lunch is still an hour away she rubs her belly with an anxious expression and says forlornly "alright.... I'll try to wait" as if there were any other option.

The other children just aren't quite certain what to make of Southern Belle. They were so excited to get a new friend in our class and for the first few days everyone wanted to be near her, play with her, soak in her new-ness. But as she has gently rebuffed them - no, I don't care to play right now, thank you - they have wandered off, losing interest. Now that Southern Belle has emerged from her shell a bit and is ready to make some friends the other girls are unsure of her and not as welcoming as before. I'm watching from a distance right now to see if they can resolve it without too many hurt feelings before I step in.

If I can find time tomorrow I want to write about the field trip we took this week and why I have vowed to never take this particular group of children off school property again!