So, I did have an experience when I walked in the other day, and the — it was children who had completed third grade. So when I, when I walked in to take my afternoon shift, um, they were talking about being servants. So like, they were trying to decide who, you know, who could be somebody else’s servant and who could be their master, and, um, they were grouping up and they’re like, “Well, can we have –” And they asked this one girl, who definitely takes the alpha position, and they said, “Can we have two servants?” Or, you know, so, “Can so-and-so be my servant? Can I be somebody else’s servant?” And it just, um, was clearly not a good, not a good, um, situation. Not very considerate, definitely bordering on, you know, some pretty dark areas.
So I, um, told them at that point, like, “We’re not doing this all day. This is done, this is done at the end of the day.” And I ended up talking to the administrator that, that was in our building and, and I told her about it. And I said, I said — and she said, “Yeah, just, just shut that down.” So, when we went, um — they continued to like — this was, this was all they talked about with each other, was like, “Who could be somebody’s servant? And who could be somebody else’s servant?” And then they were making them take — you know, telling them what to do, and they were taking, you know, taking each other’s waters and like waiting on them and it was, it was kinda ugly.
But I, um — So when I got them back to the room, I sat them down. I said, “I wanna sit down, I wanna talk to you.” And I started out being very vulnerable with them ’cause I had just tried to do an art project which involved Perler beads, which is my absolute least favorite craft activity because you have to iron them and you have to get them just right. And, you know, I did — and I told them, “This is my first time actually doing it, and you know, I didn’t do the best job but, um, but I did my best, and I apologize if your — some turned out really good and some didn’t turn out quite as good. But you know, that’s, that’s just kind of the way it goes.” And, and they were, they were really very nice about it. Mostly girls in this particular group.
Um, so then I said, “And the other thing I wanna talk to you about is the servants. Is this idea of servants and masters.” And I said, “When I heard you guys talking about it, I felt really ucky.” So I walked them through, um, how I, I talked to the administrator and she agreed with me and she — and I said, “It — there are people that, um, have experiences or a — come from different — might have a different background, and it can make people feel very, very uncomfortable.” So I’m getting head nods, a few head nods, and then I’m getting some real stone-cold faces. Um, they did not want that taken away. But some of them got it, and, um, I kept talking about it a little bit. So I said, “Just because I don’t — I know you don’t wanna unintentionally hurt people’s feelings, we’re gonna stop.” And then they started to ask a lot of questions about, well, you know, “Who’s the boss here?” and things like that. They kinda wanted to go in the direction of, um, “Who could be — well, maybe we can do boss and you know, employee,” and I’m like, “No, we’re just not going to do it at all.” But, um, it was — overall — and they did exactly what I asked ’em to do and, you know, it was a positive sign.