Why Are You Always So Busy?

 

I hear a lot of things from my students.

Some are silly.

Some are serious.

Some warrant further investigation.

Some are better left as passing statements.

But last week, a Kindergartener said something that I just can’t shake.

She said,

“Ms. Deaton, why are you always so busy?”

And I am.

I’m always busy.

I have e-mails to check,

Lessons and programs to plan,

Notes to write,

Spreadsheets to organize,

Things to do.

Oh yeh, and I need to teach the kids.

To save my voice, my feet, and my sanity,

I often get the kids—especially the younger kids—started with a song or activity and then Supervise them to make sure they don’t hurt themselves or one another.

While I supervise, I sometimes multitask on the computer.

It was during this multitasking that my student asked,

“Ms. Deaton, why are you always so busy?”

I didn’t know what to tell her.

Why AM I always so busy?

It’s true. I am.

Always busy.

But why?

 

Last week, I wrote this for my staff:

In the movie Frozen, little sister Anna asks big sister Elsa if she wants to build a snowman. For so many reasons, Elsa says no. Likewise, we live in a world where students, children, grandchildren, families, and friends are constantly asking us to build snowmen, but, for so many reasons, many of us say no. Yet the world is starving for snowman builders. The world is starving for the commodity of time. So this Holiday Season, in the hustle and bustle of it all, let’s try to make the time to build some snowmen, and then when we come back in January, let’s continue building. Our snowmen don’t have to be perfect. They just need to get off the ground.        

 

You know…

I think my student, in her question of my busy-ness,

Was asking if I wanted to build a snowman.

And I accidentally said no.

 

Dear God: Help us to slow our busy-ness and to build more snowmen. Amen.