Surviving Smallville

Today, I saw the biggest bunny rabbit I've ever seen. It could have eaten a small child it was so fat and it was surprisingly unafraid for a wild thing. It stared me down, then wriggled its nose as if to say, "you can't even get a 6 year old to be quiet for more than 30 second increments, why should I be afraid of you?" Day 2 of Kindergarten, and I am still alive. Barely. They worked me like a Hebrew slave . It took a full hour and an i-pod full of zero 7 to calm down afterwards and still those tiny voices rang through my head.."He hit me....Can I have a bandaid?...I have to go potty?...When can we go outside?...Are you an African?"

When I look at some of these kids, I can sometimes see exactly who they are going to grow up to be. Some are sweet, naive and compassionate. They are the kind of people who give you chocolate when you're crying. They share toys. They play with whoever. While other kids will lie to your face, if they think they can get away with it. They hit. They bite. They push other kids off the swing set and steal their shoes. I had to bench two kids today for outlandishly bad behavior. I watched a boy spit into another boy's open mouth from 5 paces away. I was impressed by his aim, but totally grossed out and shocked because there was absolutely no reason for it. It is the sheer randomness that floors me most...how some kids will just turn around and punch other kids not because they were hurting or bothering them, but just because they feel like it. Is there some genetic code that makes these kids more pre-disposed to being psychopaths or is it their parents?

My time spent with the little people has thoroughly disabused me of any nostaligic notions that being a kid is preferable to being an adult. Yes, they do get to snack often. There is play time and singing and messy painting, but there are also mean kids and ADHD kids that knock you down or try to land their lego planes on your castle of blocks. Really it's not that different than being an adult. Within the class, there are leaders and followers, there are rules that the adults set, and a whole seperate set of rules that are kid dictated. They decide who plays with whom, which games are open and which games are by invitation only. It's actually kind of fascinating to see how all of this plays out. No. Kids aren't all that different, just shorter, less subtle, more energetic versions of their future selves.