A Small Sampling of the Weird Things Kids Do

I was a weird kid.  Well, to be honest, I’m a fairly weird adult.  But as a child…definitely one of the, uh, different ones.  I once got a stick of clay (not quite sure how…perhaps I stole it from the art room?  I wouldn't put it past me) and used it to make a home for my invisible friend Odda that lived in my desk.  I of course would check on it often, just to see how Odda was doing and make sure his home had not been subject to a flash earthquake or a surprise desk cleaning.  But I digress…

Kids do some odd things.  But apparently, these odd things are actually…normal.  A few things you might find in your classroom.

Tiny Pencils

Every year, it seems as though I have kids who almost fight to have the tiniest of the tiny pencils.  This little speck of wood that really should have been thrown away 4 inches ago SOMEHOW finds its way back into its owner’s pencil case.  Whereas a normal-sized pencil looks like this…

Apparently it’s comfortable, and perhaps somehow a status symbol, to use a pencil that looks more like this:

Oh, I know you’ve seen this tiny wonder.  An inch, or perhaps even a centimeter of yellow, the eraser nothing more than a nub.  The truly impressive ones don’t have any yellow, and are rather the metal casing that holds the eraser and a bit of pencil lead.  Just looking at these makes my hand cramp up with sympathy pains, yet these pencils are used until they can no longer even make it far enough into the pencil sharpener to get sharpened, and sometimes even THAT does not stop them.  My point is, there’s no stopping them.  They will show up every year, like that concert tee that you just CAN’T get rid of because it reminds you of the good times you had jamming out to Tiffany or New Kids on the Block (true story).  You can always try to implement the Tiny Pencil Museum (thank you GroveGuy for this idea:  http://thegroveguy.blogspot.com/2014/05/tiny-pencil-museum.html) , but even that takes some upkeep.  Choose your battles.  Look, shake your head, roll your eyes in that teacher-y waythat seems to convey the “Seriously?!  This again?! Look, and move on to the next baffler…

Using Paper Clips as Non-Paper Clips

I suppose I can empathize with this one.  I once decided to make my own jewelry.  Now, keep in mind, this was waaaaay before the days of Esty and Pinterest, and I was 8, so my jewelry looked more like, uh, junk.  But I was a determined little child, spurred on by the likes of Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead,  and thought that paper clips would just make the BEST earrings.  So I tinkered and toiled and bent and finagled, until I had earrings that threaded through my earring holes by way of a paper clip spoke, and hung down to my shoulders.  Basically, I had connected about 5 different-colored paper clips, and stuck one of them through my ear.  High class personified, if I did so say myself.  Rushing to show my mom, she immediately told me to take the monstrosities out of my ears, because they could get infected (every mother’s excuse *sigh*), and thus my days of jewelry making were over.

My point is, I kind of get the appeal that paper clips present to youngsters.  I suppose there’s something about having pliable metal literally in your fingertips that is extremely enticing.  And kids will find paper clips.  Everywhere.  Even when you think you’ve disposed of them all, they just…show up.  The only feasible explanation is that once boxes of paper clips enter a school building, they are somehow bewitched to never end up in the trash can, but rather in little nooks and crannies of classrooms (under the carpet is a popular spot, just FYI).  And kids will find them.  And play with them.  Once a paper clip enters a child's hands, it becomes a fascinating piece of equipment that one can bend, unbend, bend, unbend, bend….usually during a lesson, mind you.  It is now no  longer a paper clip, but rather a bendy little poking device.  Kids will use these amazing contraptions to perform all sorts of tricks, most notably seeing how many times they can poke their neighbor without their neighbor noticing OR getting caught by the teacher (think of this as The Game of Chicken, Jr. Edition).  They use them to scrape out their nails (cue gagging noise), poke at scabs (again, cue gagging noise), and lightly scrape designs into their skin (predecessor to tattoos, perhaps?).  Consider these office supplies an indicator of a child’s inventiveness and creativity, work on developing a strong stomach, and just wordlessly pick them up out of children’s hands when you see them (sanitizing your own hands immediately after, of course).