No Worse For The Wear

Birthday Bear, a large stuffed animal doing the bidding of American Greetings, has returned home after another year of hanging out with children in a Head Start program. Though looking battered and worn, not to mention needing a bath, he assures me that it was a great school year. For starters, he has almost 20 new friends.

B-day Bear claims to be the go-to guy who has been hugged, punched and dragged around the classroom. Mostly he just sits and waits for a child who is not having a good day. Maybe it's his perpetual smile, big fluffy arms that always look ready for an embrace, or his inviting lap to plop on; but, he brags, he's kept pretty busy. Oh yeah, he also makes a nice nap companion.

B-day Bear knows, for example, that he's accepted when a child starts wanting to wear his vest coat. His greatest accomplishment, like the wooden puppet boy, is that he is real to imaginative minds that live a bigger reality than most adults. This means that he helps children help themselves.

B-day Bear helps others open up rather than "shut up." He helps them relax with their hesitations, rather than "hurry up," lick rather than "man up" their hurts and wounds. To him, hard treatment of a child, which affects the outside and heals quickly, is not as bad as harsh treatment.

Yep, B-day Bear is a reminder that adults, even teachers, need to bear with children who require time and space to grow into their little bodies and big worlds. He's a reminder that what is real is really helpful.

Welcome back, Birthday Bear. Now, where is that bottle of disinfectant spray?!