Coleen Brooks: The perfect day

Their days should be full of laughter and joy … at least this is what I believe.

Of course, we all know that doesn’t always happen. Little ones, toddlers, sometimes don’t have fun. They like to play with certain toys and some are not too keen on sharing. I was a preschool teacher for five years starting in 1980. Two-year-olds made up my first classes. Most did fine but some seemed to be traumatized being separated from Mom in a group of strangers, big and small.

One little fella cried constantly. This was how he dealt with an imperfect day. And this went on for at least two weeks. By then, his mom was contemplating taking him out of preschool. I advised her to try just a few more days. Little ones can change overnight. And this is what happened. One morning he came in and did not run for his mother as he usually did.

Another two-year-old came up to him and showed him a truck of some other toy. This was all it took after over two weeks of him not having a perfect day. From then on, and I’m not totally sure what changed his imperfect days to perfect days, but finding a friend seemed to be the perfect cure.

When I was teaching a three-year-old group a year or so later, one little fella was so bright and had a great vocabulary. However, he was not too big on sharing. I’m not really sure how the altercation started, but it seems he was playing with a certain toy and another little fella wanted to play with it too. This did not sit well with him. What started out as a perfect day was turning into one three-year-old insisting on taking the toy in question back in a not so perfect way.

Of course, as the teacher, I needed to intervene. At first, I talked quietly to both little ones in a gentle way. I believed in handling situations with little ones in a way they could understand. It seems that the one not wanting to share did not have my attitude. He snatched the toy out of the other one’s hand and proceeded to turn and head in another direction.

Well, this is when I had to put on my stern teacher voice. It was still quiet, but not as quiet as if I’d been talking to an 8th grader. I bent down and took the toy from the non-sharing three-year-old and gave it to the other one. This did not sit well with the child who had to give up the toy. He turned to me, stood up as tall as he could, and pointed his finger at me. Shaking his finger in my face as I bent forward, he said in a very serious voice, “If you do that again, I’m going to turn you into the sheriff!”

I had to turn away to keep him from seeing me laugh. It turns out that his actions made my day perfect. He’s all grown now and a lawyer. Yep, that seems about right. This made me think of other perfect days I’ve had, days that made me glad to be alive. One was the day I found out I was pregnant with our first child. Bill was sick in bed with the flu.

This did not deter from my perfect day. I told him “Guess what? The rabbit died” which back in the day, rabbits were used to determine pregnancy some way. Through his illness, he had the biggest smile on his face. We had three more perfect days and each time I told him I was pregnant, he was always happy. When I told my mom I was pregnant for the fourth time all she said was, “You’re kidding!” Made me laugh.

Other perfect days come to mind. Watching our talented daughter shine as she performed with the Show Choir. Watching our youngest transform himself into the Mad Hatter, hearing our Hayden sing “Red Roses Tied in Blue”, a song my dad, his grandfather wrote at my dad’s funeral. watching our Heath graduate summa cume laude from law school.

Perfect days fill my life more than imperfect days. Greeting each new grandchild…all six…makes a day perfect. The sun warm on my shoulders makes a perfect day. My husband greeting me with a hardy, “Good morning,” begins a perfect day.

What are your perfect days? I hope they are many.