Afraid of Failure

When my twin sons were in Primary school in Jamaica, there was a girl that would beat them for first place every year. She was six years old, the same age as my sons. From the first grade to the sixth grade that child would take away their chances of coming first in class. I would teach them myself. I buy books that the teacher uses, I buy other books and every year that child still took first place away from them.

When they were in the fifth grade, one evening I went to pick them up and the classroom was empty, except for that one child. In my country, children must help to clean the classroom. That rule encourages them to clean up after themselves. Every week the teacher would assign a group of children to clean up. That evening she was alone. I stepped inside the classroom of 48 children, 24 desks among other furniture.

“Why are you cleaning up alone, where are the others?” I asked, glancing around at the mess they left behind.

She was a pleasant child, and she said, “They all run away as soon as Miss Henderson left.”

I grabbed a broom from the corner to her right and together we clean up. That was Monday. For the rest of the week, I helped her clean up because the other children left it all on her. She did a great job. She never complained. She did it pleasantly.