The Harris Herald

Little Kids

My employer is partnered with a health and wellness magnet school. To kick off a healthy school year, we joined the K5-2nd grade students in their health walk at a park. Imagine the challenge these kids provided me as they endured the heat of an August afternoon, some hardly equipped to walk as their parents had sent them in sandals! Oops--must have missed that memo.

I went in to the experience ready to beat the heat and enjoy the “cute little kids” and definitely did. But what berates me is the extent to which times have changed since I was little. I was all about Strawberry Shortcake and water painting. A darling first grade boy talked about snakes being blown up in microwaves, as he saw in Snakes on a Plane. At last year’s walk, the 3rd and 4th grade girls were talking about their weight. I also heard snippets of Chingy’s new “Hey Ba-Bay”song.

Then there was the boy wearing a petrified alligator’s foot around his neck. Once he found out I was “scared of it” and thought it “really gross” he shoved it in my face the remainder of the walk. Now that’s an act I’m ok with. But the other stuff about R-rated films and singing the current rap song bugs me. It makes me wonder to what the children are exposed.

And that’s why I was so glad to spend a little bit of time with them--to hold their sweaty hands and encourage them on the walk. To push them way high on the swings and listen to their stories, while holding my shock, joy, and grief for their little lives, inside.