My mother says I'm a baby magnet. Today, she was once again proven correct.

The center I work at enrolled a new little girl for the 2 1/2 year old class this week. Today was her third day. The first two days the little girl was fine, didn't cry at all. But today for some reason, she was very upset that mommy left her. The poor baby cried all day long.

Now she's not in my class, (I have four year olds) but sometimes I'll make the rounds when I hear one of the kids crying for a long period of time to see if I can be of any help. I know how it is to be in a room with a screaming kid. It can drive you to your wits end of you're not careful.

Well I finally managed to slip away at nap time and walk down the hall to see what was going on. I walked into the room (the group teacher for the baby class was out today which compounded the problem because the only familiar face the kid new wasn't there) and there she was, on her bed, sobbing. As I approached she lifted her arms for me to pick her up, and anyone who knows me can attest, this is my weakness. (Remember this child hardly new me, had seen me only twice before this incident.) I scooped her up after glaring at the sub for letting her get that upset without intervening.

She sandwiched her arms between her chest and mine, laid her head on my shoulder, and within a minute she had stopped crying. Five minutes later she was sound asleep. I laid her back down, and returned to my room. Problem solved. Was that so hard? I think not.

It really aggravates me that the staff let it escalate to that, though. Most of them are believers that if you pick the kid up when she's crying, she'll cry anytime you go near her. I know the difference between spoiling a kid, and giving them the TLC they need. She was scared. Who doesn't want a hug when they're scared?

If the child was 8, then the situation would be different, but this is just a 2 year old baby who's confused because her mommy has never left her before and she doesn't know what's going on. One of the other teachers started to give me grief about picking her up. I simply said... "If it was your child, would you rather me let her scream for five hours, or would you have me pick her up and calm her down?" She stopped all the complaining nonsense pretty quick after that.

Teaching isn't always about ABC's and 123's. Children learn and achieve their morals by watching the adults around them. Today was a lesson of compassion. Yordi learned it well.