Naive joy

At the sight of Magnolia Chocolate milk, my class of 14 6-year olds' faces lit up like christmas trees! They were smiling and stretching out their necks, nudging each other to confirm that 'it is chocolate milk that they are seeing!'.

Yes, I walked in to class this morning, with a huge plastic bag filled with packets of chocolate milk, a few packets of colour pencils, stickers and exercise books. I did my bit of shopping last night for a whole hour, looking for lil' treats for my kids.

Just last week, Ms. Suan who took over my class for the day told me that my kids are demotivated to learn as they have not been rewarded of late for their hard work. My heart sank, of course as I didn't see it coming from them. To me, they are always happy to see me, and they are cheeky and naughty, and daring and happy to see me! I can't go that wrong???

So, today, when I walked into the class, they squeaked 'good morning' in their kiddie voices! They looked like they have missed me! Anyway, they were all happy (making me think that these kids do not look demotivated at all!), and perhaps it's the rapport that I have with them that Ms. Suan doesn't have. Well, I've already bought all the lil' pressies / treats for them, so, I might as well make 14 lil' hearts swell with joy.

Without pausing to do other things, I announced to the class that everyone will go home with chocolate milk and also, stickers... You should have seen the excitement on their faces. Such joy, though naive, but I felt so happy to see them smiling happily... they are infectious! So, you can well-imagine us there, our faces were about to split into halves with wide and happy smiles and grins.

Spontaneously, I made up some rules, and announced to them 'For each spelling session, if you have one mistake, you will have a small sticker, and if you have 100% correct, you will have a big star sticker." I paused, and so did the kids, they held their breaths to hear more... and I kept them in a tiny bit of suspense (they were so cute and so filled with anticipation!).

Well, I continued, "Now, I will count all these stickers in your spelling book. If I count that you have 10 stickers, I will reward you with a golden star. If you have a golden star, I will give you a bigger present - set of colour pencils". I waved a packet of coloured pencils in the air... and saw the kiddies' eyes glued on them like magnets!

Then I turned to my teachers' table, and sat down sticking stickers and counting stickers in their spelling books. You should see them the moment I did that, the kids all left their seats and rushed towards me, and crowded around me to count the stickers 'together' with me. They love their stickers soooooo much!

As excited as they are, I proudly told them that I have bought 'outlined stickers'. All the kids knew about 'what they were'... haha! In fact, I didn't know there was 'such a thing' till I was educated by the ladies at the bookstore last night. I bought 'em goldie-outlined 'star-shaped' stickers... Now, I can't believe that there has been so much developement on stickers in comparison to my ol' days as a kid!

So, 4 out of 14 got their their golden stars, and also coloured pencils. So much for their joy! Hmmm... and classes went on as usual, but more 'livened up'. I suppose that's what Ms. Suan meant by 'motivating them'. They were indeed, happier than the usual 'happy' I see them as. I'm thinking that how wonderful it is to have such naive joy, and to be so easily pleased. I wonder where did all of that in me go to, as I do remember myself being that way too before. Still, I'm happy for today's insight and exposure, and it reminded me to love life and a little more, and leave complications behind.