Thankful

It’s been almost a year since I started taking Sunday classes for 5 year olds. I looked forward to meeting my little ones every week. We had stories to share, things to show off, songs to sing and 3 hours spend with them was truly rewarding. I had my own 5 year old and 3 year old in a different class.
Among my students was Sidh.. What made him different was, he expressed a lot of gratitude. He valued the class, his friends and was thankful. I loved the way he would thank me and his friends for a nice class. He would hug and say good bye. To see this respect and gratitude in a 5 year old boy was truly amazing.
His parents were doing something right, I would tell my husband.
I never got to meet Sidh's parents. He was dropped at class by his parent's friends or neighbors.
We organized a chanting competition in class one day and Sidh did very well and won some stickers. He told me his dad/mom was coming to pick him up and wanted me to tell them all about it.
We were excited. I was waiting to meet his parents.. To tell them their son was exemplary and we teachers admired him. I wanted to tell them you guys are doing an excellent job and should be proud of yourselves.

The class was ending and the kids were being picked up. Sidh and I exchanged exciting glances and peeked out of window occasionally.
Suddenly a man walked into the class talking loudly on the phone; he gave me an obligatory smile and walked away with Sidh. He grabbed his bag and tugged along.

I stood watching them leave without even saying a goodbye. A little hurt and a little shocked, I heaved a sigh and got back to cleaning up the class. I picked up my kids and walked through the lobby to catch up with A. I wondered if parents knew how teachers felt. I questioned myself as a parent and a teacher. Everybody seemed too busy to be noticing the little things … and we had none to blame.
Surprisingly, Sidh rushed behind me, warmly hugged my thighs, smiled and ran away. I heard his father, at the other end of the lobby put the phone on mute and shout angrily at him for running through the school corridors.
I waved and said a loud goodbye to distract his dad.

My son asked, why did that kid hug you? My daughter replied, 'He loves teacher amma'

I smiled. Today I was thankful.