My Students Say the Darndest Things (Blast from the Past)

I don't have anything great to blog about and I'm in this real funk lately so I thought I would fill the void with an old story from my kids in Asheville.

On Valentine's day, two of my girls, Brittany and Kelsey (I am not even changing their names. It's been long enough.) were arguing about boys. One had a boyfriend, one didn't and they were just yapping back and forth about it all day long. (Yes, I taught third grade. Ridiculous.) "Your boyfriend is stupid." "Well, at least I have a boyfriend." "Yeah, but he's stupid." "Better than not having one!" "Well, I don't want one!" "Yes you do, you're jealous!" "No I'm not."

Finally after a lot of time went by and they were still going back and forth, I called them over to my chair in the front of the room. I asked what the problem was and they basically repeated everything they had said. I buried my head in my hands and sat in silence for a minute. Then I looked up and said "Girls, this is silly. You are in the third grade. We don't need to be arguing about boys. I don't have a boyfriend, and I don't think you need one either. Just get over it and sit down."

They headed to their seats and another student who had been listening to the conversation came over. His name was Benjamin and he was Ukranian and spoke English well, but it was definitely broken and he definitely had an accent. He smiled this huge grin at me and said:

"Ms. M., their mother's milk is not dry on their lips and they have boyfriends!"

I laughed so hard I cried!! I asked him where he heard this and he told me his mother says it sometimes. I was so impressed that he took the time to translate this pearl of wisdom in to English for us!