The Pencil Box

One of the items that Samantha needed in preparation for pre-school was a pencil box with her name on it.  Inside, her teacher asked us to place a box of crayons and a couple of sharpened pencils.  This box would be kept at school and used whenever the students did any projects that required coloring or writing.

Sam set to work decorating her pencil box with stickers:

When it was finished (to her liking), we put it in her backpack so that she could take it to school with her on Wednesday.  I thought that she completely understood that this pencil box would STAY at school and be there every day for her.

When I walked into the classroom to pick her up on Wednesday, she came running over to me ... in tears.  I shot a quick glance to Mrs. Hicks, her teacher, silently questioning why Sam was SO upset.  Afterall, her exact words to me on the way to school that very morning were: "Mom, thanks for driving me to school.  I love school."

Through choked up words, I was able to figure out what the problem was -- she loved her pencil box so much that she wanted to take it home.  She was angry at her teacher for telling her that it had to stay at school. 

After much deliberation, we reached a compromise: Her pink one could come home with us, and we would go buy a green one (I saw green pencil boxes -- her favorite color -- at Meijer for 0.89), and decorate that one to take, AND LEAVE, at school. 

As she retreived her pink box from the teacher, she hugged it to her chest and said, "I just love it so much."  Mrs. Hicks was totally understanding and told me that "it's Sam's first pencil box, and that's a big deal."  Yes, I love this teacher so much.  She completely "gets" my kid.

And so here it is:

The pink one is already nestled away in her desk at home, and the green one is in her backpack ... hopefully ready to make its debut in the preschool classroom.  And Sam understands now (I hope) that the green one must stay at school so that she has crayons and pencils to use when she is doing her schoolwork.