At this time of year, some of the teachers at our school ask the kids to write a sentence about why they appreciate each kid in the class, then they compile them all. Pete got a lot of nice responses, such as "Pete is funny and always makes me laugh" and "Pete is very kind," but the ones I liked best were these:
Pete is a good sport. Whenever he is out in a game, he just goes out.
Pete is very friendly. If you're not playing, he will say, "Come play."
Pete is always helping people, even girls.
I appreciate people like that too.
Congrats to Pete! I recently ran into someone who was in my daughter's 4th grade class, which was 8 years ago. She had only known my daughter about 2 months and hadn't seen her since. When I told her I thought she had known my daughter years ago, she and her mother both instantly remembered her and paid her the nicest compliment a mother could hope to hear. The girl--who apparently had been sort of an outcast among her classmates--said "She was nice to me when no one else was." I nearly cried!
Posted by: Elena | November 25, 2009 at 07:41 PM
I absolutely love these. The "even girls" part made me laugh SO HARD.
Posted by: Margaret | November 25, 2009 at 09:39 PM
That's my kind of guy for sure. I remember when my own son was recognized by the staff at the school for, in their terms, "being a leader." It seems the event that finally moved them to make a big deal out of it was that he befriended a boy from Burma, a refugee who couldn't speak much english, whose family had been killed in the civil war there. It seems the other kids weren't always inclined to be nice to him--but my son put an end to that. Since he was tall and popular and good looking, the other kids followed his lead after that. I don't think I was ever prouder when I heard about it.
Anyone can be born the smartest, the strongest or the prettiest. The real quality of a person is in their choices of behavior.
Posted by: scott | November 25, 2009 at 11:07 PM
So sweet. I love this idea, too. I'll be asking the kids when they wake up.
Posted by: Lori Z. | November 26, 2009 at 09:32 AM
In a way, this is your report card, isn't it? I think you got an "A" -- kudos!
Posted by: Jeananne | November 26, 2009 at 10:44 PM