Kailee in Kindergarten: Mercy & Compassion

First quarter is almost up.  As of the moment, Kailee is taking her quarterly exams.  She's adjusted pretty well to waking up at 5:30am to eating some breakfast (if you can call a buttered pandesal, a piece of cocktail hotdog, and cereals), playing with classmates and learning.  I am mighty proud of how she is becoming.  She's quite friendly saying *Hi* and waving to friends when I bring her to school and *Bye (insert name of classmate)* when I pick her up in school.  She remembers the names of most of her classmates and even tells me which colored table they sit it.  In my opinion, she's doing well in school.

One day though, she told me that one of her classmates told her to *Shut Up*.  I asked her why, it was because she told this classmate to keep quiet so this classmate can concentrate on her seat work.  I think I was more affected than Kailee.  In her 5 years and and 5 months of living, I've never EVER said those words to her and now a classmate of hers just did.  I realized, as much as I want to protect her from the world - there are times that I just can't.  So I asked her what she did after, she just shrugged her shoulders and continued on with her work.  It made me think, was Kailee too *pakialamera* or was she just too concerned with this classmate?  I knew she got hurt, because she was telling me this - and as much as I wanted to square off with this classmate of hers, I simply cannot.  I wanted to make her feel better, so I just hugged and kissed her.

I have this habit of sharpening her pencils everyday after school.  The school provided (well, we paid for it) her with one (1) pencil and one (1) eraser.  Just to be sure, I placed two more pencils (a different brand) inside the pencil case, you know just in case the one given by the school gets *putol* or *pudpud*.  For a few days, I noticed that all her pencils need sharpening.  I assumed well, Kailee liked her pencils sharpened pala (like me! Hahaha!!).  Then one day, I had this urge to ask her if she uses all her pencils in school.  She said she doesn't - she just uses the one given by the school.  So I said - why were the other pencils *pudpud na?*  She then said that she lends her pencils to her classmate, because this classmate doesn't have a pencil to use.  Of course, I needed to ask - why she doesn't have a pencil to use (since the school gave them one), Kailee said because her pencil case is empty.  My heart burst with pride since my daughter knows how to share - she's compassionate!  She saw that her classmate needed a pencil to use and she willingly lent hers.  That's so nice of her, diba?

So, when I asked her who this classmate was.  I got so surprised to hear the name of this classmate, the same one who told her to shut up!  Of course, I can't show Kailee that I was upset, but deep inside I was.  I mean, the same person who told her to shut up, was the same one Kailee was showing compassion with (by lending her pencils to use).  I had to remain calm and compose myself.  It took me two days to digest what happened, two days!  After two days, I realized that my little girl is a good girl - because despite that classmate telling her to shut up, she still lent her pencil to her.  She became the better person in the situation.  To tell you the truth if that happened to me (now) I wouldn't even bother lending her my pencil to use.  

I realized that if you counter a bad action with another bad act, then everything will go downhill from there.  But with what Kailee did, well - she was wise and still lent her pen to a classmate in need.  What she did was very nice, she showed mercy and compassion.  It wasn't an issue for her that this classmate told her off, she was still nice to her when this classmate was in need.  It warms my heart and makes me mighty proud that she did this.  She's only 5 and me, I'm 36 and my mind is supposed to be more mature, but she was more mature than me in this situation.

I learned something new, well not so new.  I learned something valuable from my daughter.  It's funny that my daughter had to school me on this mercy and compassion thing.  I just hope that she grows up wonderfully.  I am so proud of her.