Forgiveness

Due to his impulsivity, I check on a handsome blond-haired kindergarten child each morning, encouraging him to do his best at school that day. This little boy has a very kind heart and isn't mean at all; he just has trouble slowing down to stop and think. Frequently he breaks rules and is immediately sorry, but it's too late to take back the dirty deed! (Wouldn't it be nice if life came with big giant erasers or a rewind button?) Well I have daycare duty at dismissal lots of times, and my little friend usually comes up to report on how his day has gone. One day last week, he called me over to his table while we were waiting on his daycare van to arrive. Pulling on my sleeve, he said with pride in his eyes, "Miss Mimi, I hugged a girl who stole my snack today." Although I tried to figure out the story, I failed, so I put it out of my mind. The next morning when I went to check on the little boy, his teacher pulled me over to a corner of the classroom and said she had a sweet story to tell me. It was the same tale the child had attempted to get me to understand on the previous afternoon, but the teacher filled in all the blanks for me. At afternoon snack time, the boy discovered that his food was missing. Concerned, he blurted out, "Hey, my snack's missing!" The teacher investigated and found out who the culprit was, a beautiful dark-haired girl. Even though there was lots of evidence incriminating her, she denied having stolen the snack. Later, as the girl talked with another teacher friend of hers, she admitted the truth, amid lots of tears. Throwing his arms around her, my impetuous little friend instantly forgave her. As I mentioned at the beginning of this tale, he has a very sweet spirit, and along with that comes abundant grace and mercy. Oh what important lessons we adults can learn from the little ones in our care!