Glasses slipping down her nose, eyes focused on her two students. Her markers are lined up in rainbow order, and papers are stacked neatly on our couch as she prepares for her first class. And I prepare for lessons from my six-year-old teacher.

Mitch and I bought our granddaughter, Noa, the Pretend Play Teacher Set because, at 6 years old, her dream is to become a teacher. It combines Noa’s love of telling people what to do with her love of doing things for others. For her first lesson, Gus (our Vizsla) and I were her students. Gus’s tail wagged back and forth like a pendulum as he waited for the class to begin.

PHONE

“No, Nana!” My first infraction came quickly, the dreaded peeking at my phone during class. I was caught midscroll when Ms. Noa immediately grabbed my device and put it in the phone box. “No phone Nana!” Hence, no photos of our school day.

CRISSCROSS

After the phone incident, we rotated through several classroom stations in our simulated setting, each requiring me to sit “crisscross applesauce.” Does she know how old I am? Yet, I “crisscrossed” sat, stood, and sat again, as directed.

Wednesday —A Hard Spelling Word

Unfortunately, it was Wednesday. She paused, head tilted, clearly sounding it out in her mind, “Whenday”..No, “Wenday”…No… Ms. Noa took off her pretend glasses and said, “Pause game!” Gus was no help, so I spelled the long word, and we resumed our lesson.

Gus, My Classmate

I was impressed by how little my classmate knew. He only seemed to respond to “Get in your seat!” and paid very little attention to the lesson.

Our school day grew tense when Gus had one behavior that sent ME to the principal’s office. Ms. Noa threw some food into the classroom garbage pail. My furry fellow pupil immediately left his seat to eat out of the garbage.  I started laughing at the ridiculousness of it all and was immediately sent to the principal’s office.

Ms. Noa took me downstairs and removed her glasses. Now she played Principal Noa, and I was reprimanded. Oh, she must love this! Meanwhile, Gus didn’t even get a scolding. Unfair!

NOA Nowledge

When I was done with school and started thinking about our day, I realized Noa is always playing the role of teacher. She didn’t need the teacher set, but it added a new level of play. I reminded her that my own undergrad and grad degrees are in teaching, so maybe it runs in the family. Her great-grandmother Rita was a legendary teacher.

Noa is always teaching me about fashion. And if that were a subject, she would send me for remedial help (her opinion, not mine—though I do need to expand my gown wardrobe). Meanwhile, Gus wears the same red suit every day.

Lessons Learned

Playing the role of teacher, feeling the responsibility and yes, pride to be in charge and teach others is the big lesson here.  

Noa is educating me, although it’s not the lesson she intended. She is teaching me to be present. I am learning to remember what it was like to be a young girl and to have patience for ninety minutes sitting cross-legged on the floor as a student of my granddaughter.

Class Dismissed!

For an inspiring stories about Raising a Child with a Rare Chromosome Deletion, check out 3-time award-winning memoir,  Raising Jess: A Story of Hope!