An Hour with The Children

‘How charmingly naive,’ was what crossed my mind when I heard people said children particularly love new teachers. Naive, as they hadn’t figure out if the new teacher is an angel or a devil, yet still liked them undoubtedly. That is, before the teacher enters their class, obviously.

            So when I first went to school, I half expected what would happen. And sure enough, I was correct. The children begged me to enter their class, not knowing how unfriendly or how stern I was. However, even when I entered their class, showing no signs of what people call adorable and likeable kind of teacher, the children were still begging me to enter their class again. This was the other half of what I hadn’t expected.

            Anyway, that was not the point of this story. It all began when I was asked to enter the Year 4 class. Of course, I would agree. After all, I was just a teacher trainee, who was supposed to do whatever they made me do. But I had to think really hard on what to do during that one hour in the class. They are 10 years old, but they are old enough to keep playing games. So, I decided to tell them a story. A famous tale of Puteri Santubong and Puteri Sejenjang.

            Everyone from my generation would know this story. But these children of this new generation were open-mouthed when I told them how beautiful the two legend princesses were. How the two sisters were from the most magical kingdom. How they swore not to fight against each other. How they finally went against their oath and fought after a man. How they were cursed to become mountains after breaking their oath.

            The class was as quiet as a graveyard. The children were very amused to hear the story. And I, who was the storyteller was satisfied to see the look on their faces when I told them the curse placed upon the two princesses. I was so proud when other teachers who passed by saw how quiet the class was. I felt triumphant.

            Suddenly, a child raised his hand. Putera, I read his nametag. I allowed him to ask his question and his question surprised me.

            “Teacher, can’t the princesses love each other? Why would they like a man and fight each other? If it were me, I would choose my brother over a girl.” 

            His maturity was showing. Yet, he still hadn’t experienced what love was. A mere crush wouldn’t harm anyone. But an obsessive love would. Wondering what should I tell him and the other children, I carefully chose my words.

            “Children,” I said, pausing to see their curious faces. How innocent, I thought. Young children who were old enough to love yet didn’t truly understand the concept of to love and to be loved.

            I then continued my sentence. “The two princesses were what you should not be. You should love your family first, and not fight over petty matters. Let’s say you had a favourite toy. And your younger siblings wanted it from you. Should you defend your toy and fight them or should you give them the toy and play it together? What would you do, Putera?”

            The class was buzzing. The children discussed what they would do in that situation. Putera was thinking so hard that he crunched his nose. It seemed like my analogy worked. Children who didn’t understand love, understood the meaning of love when being compared to toys. How innocent, I thought again.

            After thinking for a while, Putera raised his hand. “I think I would give my brother the toy and play with him.”

            His answer put a smile on my face. I was pleased to see that the moral value of the tale reached the children. Then, other children began to raise their hand, wanting to tell me their answers, which were all similar to Putera’s. I praised them and told them that it would be really good if the two princesses thought the same as them. And it was satisfying to see how bright their faces were, upon hearing my praises. How adorable.

            At the end of the day, I was still smiling whenever I was reminded of that moment. Though my only intention telling them the story was to bring back the legendary myths from my childhood, I was happy that the children gained more than that. A simple question managed to let the children think and understand the moral values by heart. And that made me think, would I be as curious as them? Would adults be impressed with hearing legends, myths or tales? And I thought, perhaps not. We, adults, lost our innocence when we grew up. Our innocence and curiosity were robbed from us when the society kept saying, ‘don’t ask, you will understand when you grow up later’.

            That is why, folks, we should learn from children. One hour with the children was enough to make me wonder, like how their mind did.  

(838 words)