Oh, the Dramatic Pause

I am in the middle of annual progress testing at work. The testing department has to individually administer a battery of fifteen tests to each child in the Lower School. It is one of my favorite times of year not only because it keeps me busy, but also because it involves filing, sorting, and scoring tests.

This afternoon I tested a very anxious little boy. He complained of severe stomach pains during the spelling portion and a headache during the number writing section. Part of his ailments were truthful while the other parts were not - his teacher had warned me and encouraged me to push him through it. When I asked him to write his numbers from one to one hundred, he nearly broke down. After telling me he could only count to 20 (and me saying that he needed to keep going), him saying this was too hard (and me giving encouragement), and him saying he could only count to 50 (and me saying I would let him finish the paper tomorrow morning with his teacher), I got a line that I could not help but smile at. This little boy said, "my parents don't make me write my numbers." I gave him a you-aren't-serious look and replied, "really? What do they say to you?" Immediately, he turned his head, looked to the wall, paused, huffed, and said,"my parents say 'son, you don't have to write your numbers if you don't want to, it's ok.'"

He looked at me and we both giggled a bit knowing this whole story was completely false. This little boy may hate academics but he sure is soaking up the teachings in drama class!