Lindsay L. O'Connor

Last week, my students were all excited about an Easter egg hunt/face painting/outdoor carnival type of thing that was held near the school last Saturday. One of them kept asking if I could come, to which I replied that I couldn’t because I was going to a baby shower for my best friend. Here is the conversation that followed:
“Awww, is she having a little girl or a little boy?”

“A girl,” I answered, smiling at their interest.

“Your brother AND your best friend are both having girls!”
(They can be so attentive when they want to be!)

“That’s right!” I said, still smiling.

“I wish you had a daughter!”

My smile gave way to a little laugh.

“Yeah, and when you have a baby girl, I can be her doctor. Bring her to me.”
(Do you like the subtle change from “I wish you had a daughter” to “WHEN you have a baby girl?”)

“You got it!” I replied.

And then from another student, “Ooh, ooh, and when your daughter [keep in mind this is the daughter that they have all decided, in about ten seconds, that I AM GOING to have] gets older and wants to buy a house, I can design it for her because I’m going to be an engineer!”

They may be a few steps ahead of the game here, but their excitement was almost contagious. Thanks to Mrs. O’Connor’s class of 2010, it looks like my future child will be well taken care of. Considering that these current fourth grade darlings belong to a generation that will shape the society in which any future children of mine will live, that statement may be closer to the truth than one might think.