Daring to be different

Today, I sat in for an enrichment class for some kindergarten children and there was a component of the lesson where the 5 year-olds had to come up to share with the class what they'd like to be in future. As the school made use of content from a standard ICT lesson package, there were pictures of people in different occupations shown on the interactive whiteboard; including that of a scientist, a teacher, an astronaut, a doctor, and some other occupations that are well sought after. The kids had to go up to the board and tap on the occupation of their choice so that a picture elaborating that job would be shown; I believe some of the children didn't really know what was going on and so, just tapped on the same choices that their classmates made.

There were a couple of kids who went up to say that they wanted to be teachers; but they couldn't really justify what was it about teaching that they like, and got away with killer innocent smiles on their faces. And a couple of other kids who wanted to be scientists and astronauts too; but all of whom couldn't provide any reason for their choice. I know what you're thinking, that I'm probably expecting too much from a bunch of 5 year olds. And that was exactly what I was thinking at that moment too, maybe I should just cut them some slack. After all, some of them are not even 5.

I continued to think that way until this little girl, who was last to come up, spoke. She told the teacher that she didn't want to make use of the interactive whiteboard; we thought that she might be a little shy to come up to tap on her choice, but she clarified that her choice was not on the board. Wow. How's that for knowing exactly what she wants?

"I want to be a fish!" she exclaimed. I couldn't help but let out a chuckle for her most unexpected choice, not because I thought her answer was ridiculous, but because it was most adorable. Without much prompting, she went on to explain that "I want to be a fish because I want to/can swim very well". How awesome is this kid? I had 2 thumbs up for her in my mind; one for having a mind of her own and not just following her classmates blindly, and two, for her daring to be different and not being afraid of classmates laughing at her choice.

I'm not going to go into how she may not have experienced enough failures in life or may not have had enough people laughing at her unexpected and different choices, but I'm just going to say thank you, little fish girl, for reminding me of some of the most important, but easily forgotten lessons in life.