Kid Wisdom

Hello Listserve friends,

I am currently finishing my first year teaching. I teach English Language Arts to 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders at a small school in rural Vermont. So many people have told me I'm crazy for choosing to spend my days with middle school kids, and while I often laugh off those comments, I can't say I always disagree. Occasionally I have days where I want to bang my head against something (I've only indulged in this desire once!), but most of my days are actually filled with laughter and learning; and it's not just my students who are learning. They may be young, but my students know levels of tragedy and joy that I can only imagine. They teach me more than they will ever know.
We see plenty of advice pour into our inboxes via The Listserve, but instead of rattling off what little I know of the world, I decided to ask my students to inspire you with their best pieces of advice, since they are my daily inspiration. Here are some of the highlights...

Words of wisdom from kids (ages 10-14):

*Always wear socks
*Never let anyone take over your dreams
*Don't eat yellow snow (and if you find something brown on the ground, it's probably not chocolate)
*When people are nice to you, be nice back. It's like someone giving you a present and you giving one back.
*Life will be a lot easier if you mind your own business
*Never try to ride a shopping cart down a hill
*Don't be mouthy to your parents
*Pie makes everything better
*Go outside and do something with your life
*Keep calm; life goes on
*Mountains will crumble, oceans will freeze over, and whole cities will be destroyed if you are late for math class
*Never take a good friend for granted
*Never leave the empty milk carton in the fridge
*If you ever love two people, go with the second one because if you really loved the first one, you wouldn't have fallen in love again
*You don't need to use two sheets of toilet paperc just because it's etiquette or fancy; use what get the job done (that also applies to relationships and life choices... but mostly toilet paper)

Andrea
Vermont, USA
agrat16[AT]gmail.com

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