Augustinian Volunteer Travis Vermulm

Here is another story from my time in the kindergarten classroom:

JACOB

One of my recess jobs has become that of “human coat rack.” The children all bring heavy winter jackets to the recess field in preparation for very cold weather. Often when they prepare for the worst, it doesn’t happen. So, every recess, I am stuck standing amid 23 running 5-year-old children as they hand me a myriad of coats and sweaters.

One day as I walked back into the classroom holding the coats the children began recollecting their different outer wear. I was left with two sweaters at the end, both belonging to boys and neither having a name to distinguish them from one another. I guessed whose was whose and gave one to a boy named Tanner, the other to Jacob.

“Is this yours?” I asked Jacob. Jacob took the sweater from me, pressed it to his face, inhaled deeply, and handed it back, “Nope.” I broke into laughter. Jacob, seeing me laugh out loud, also began to giggle, and soon the whole classroom was in a short-contained giggling fit. When they calmed down, I went to Tanner, switched sweaters with him, and returned to Jacob. “Is this yours?” I asked again. Once again, Jacob pressed the fabric to his face, inhaled deeply, and shook his head. “Yep!” I guess if he knows nothing else, he knows how his clothing smells.

NOTE: The names of the children were changed in this story.