Don’t Eat My Snack, Okay?
One of the joys of having a daycare running out of my house, is that I get to learn about how truly different kids can be. What is funny to one, could be horrifying to the next. Never has this been more evident than when I attempted to play a little gag on the group at a recent snack time.
We’ve all seen the game played before; “Hey, look over there!”, as I reach over and pretend to eat one of the kid’s snacks. Everyone erupts with laughter and encourages me to do it again to a different child. In my mind, the kids know I have no intention on actually eating their snack. In their minds, however, I am a snack eating monster who will stop at nothing to get my hands on those sweet, sweet apple slices.
That day, the game ended innocently enough. We had all had a good laugh and the kids finished their unstolen snacks with smiles, knowing that they had defeated the angry snack monster. At least, that’s what I thought had happened that day; until snack time came around the next day, that is. I had completely forgotten the game and was catching up on the day’s news, when I heard a voice from across the room say,
“Chris, don’t eat my snack, okay?!“
Oh yeah, the snack game! Thinking this plea was an invitation to steal some yogurt, I made my way over to the table and treated the children to my deepest “Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum” giant voice. The only problem was that upon arrival at my destination, I could see in this child’s face that his statement was no joke. The poor little guy was petrified at the thought of me coming over to steal his hard earned yogurty reward and I felt terrible.
This was just one of the many, many lessons I am learning about the different personalities of children. Just as my son won’t watch Tangled because of Rapunzel’s scary mother, this little boy did not like the thought of a snack monster coming to trick him out of his loot. They all have their quirks and that’s what makes them all so unique and amazing. Needless to say, it’s been a month since the incident and the snack monster hasn’t made any more appearances. Still, every snack time since the incident, I am reminded of the joke gone wrong as I hear,
“Chris, don’t eat my snack, okay?“
Don’t worry buddy, the snack monster has retired.
Cheers!
Each child is precious and unique. Chris, I’m sure you can be the snack monster again…wouldn’t hang up your fee fi fo fums just yet.
Oh, there just hiding in the closet for the next thing. I’ll never hang it up completely ;D
My daughter would have just handed her snack over..lol
Haha, mine ask me to steal their snacks and dinners now, lol.
I must have missed something along the way because I didn’t realize you operated a daycare out of your house.
Haha, I don’t discuss it too much because there isn’t a lot of it that I can share. I want to be respectful of the parents who trust us with their children’s care but this one seemed like it would be okay to share.
I respect that a lot because we did that for about 6 months. It was the hardest 6 months on us, esp my wife. We happily moved on but with loads of respect for in home providers. I still play the snack game with my little guy and he still cracks up.
It’s not an easy job and my wife is an all pro in the way that she handles all of it. I know that I couldn’t do it!