I have been meaning to write this post for a long time now. This is an incident that happened a couple of months back. Our son is in the reception year at school, which is equivalent to kindergarten in most other countries. He is five years old. He wants to be a magician. When I asked him for the first time, "why magician", he replied, "he wanted to magic things at school". I understood that as him wanting to magically finish the tasks his teacher gives him, but he clarified that it wasn't so. He explained that he didn't need magic for school work, it was easy. He wanted magic for when the teacher or one of his friends say: "oh! I wish it wasn't raining" and he could then magically change the weather to sunshine.
He had been talking about learning magic for a while now, so on our next visit to the library, we borrowed a book on magic tricks for kids. He was excited. His dad taught him a few tricks, but the rest were pretty hard for his age so we returned the book when it was due.
In his school, every Friday, they are sent two books to read at home. That week, we only got one book. I asked the teacher on the following Monday if they forgot to send in the other book. They checked and mentioned that their records state that he was sent two books. I thanked them, mentioning I would check again at home. I did, but couldn't find the book anywhere. In all this Kunal was convinced that he had "magicked" the book. I apologised and offered to pay for the book, they told me not to worry, but Mrs. Brown turned to Kunal and asked him where it was. He repeated, "I magicked it". Mrs. Brown answered, "Well, that's no good, unless you can magic it back". He quickly replied, "I can't! That's all the magic, I know! My mummy returned my magic tricks books to the library". I confirmed to his teacher that I had in fact returned the book. We smiled and Kunal stepped into his class all proud of his magical abilities.
As I drove back home, I was so thankful to have found a school that let him believe in magic. Teachers, who felt absolutely no need to correct him, much less punish him for having lost the book.
He had been talking about learning magic for a while now, so on our next visit to the library, we borrowed a book on magic tricks for kids. He was excited. His dad taught him a few tricks, but the rest were pretty hard for his age so we returned the book when it was due.
In his school, every Friday, they are sent two books to read at home. That week, we only got one book. I asked the teacher on the following Monday if they forgot to send in the other book. They checked and mentioned that their records state that he was sent two books. I thanked them, mentioning I would check again at home. I did, but couldn't find the book anywhere. In all this Kunal was convinced that he had "magicked" the book. I apologised and offered to pay for the book, they told me not to worry, but Mrs. Brown turned to Kunal and asked him where it was. He repeated, "I magicked it". Mrs. Brown answered, "Well, that's no good, unless you can magic it back". He quickly replied, "I can't! That's all the magic, I know! My mummy returned my magic tricks books to the library". I confirmed to his teacher that I had in fact returned the book. We smiled and Kunal stepped into his class all proud of his magical abilities.
As I drove back home, I was so thankful to have found a school that let him believe in magic. Teachers, who felt absolutely no need to correct him, much less punish him for having lost the book.
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