Since it's naughty or nice time, I thought I might have a better shot at nice if I admitted something! Since it's the season for merry making , I could tell a story about parties. Some people may have guessed where I'm going.
My whole teaching career was at the middle school level. Middle school kids just have to have dances. It's a very big deal with them.
At the beginning I went reluctantly and did my hour shift of supervision. It wasn't fun.
Later I became involved with organizing and running dances. This was different . It was fun. I realized how much fun kids had at dances and how much of a social learning experience it was when my kids were in middle school.
My specialty at the dances was looking after the door. Principals were very concerned about everybody having to pay admission. Kids had to be in the dance by 7 PM . Anybody after 7 PM didn't get in and nobody was let out unless they were going home. Pretty clear instructions?
I would get my crew of kids to do the door. They took the money and stamped hands. I watched to see that all of the kids belonged to our school. We had Most of the kids in the gym in 15 or 20 minutes and then my little crew would want to leave and dance. Fair enough. I was left to supervise the door.
Now there would always be a few kids hanging around the door and they were a nuisance. They would want to talk to somebody or some other lame excuse to hang around. The principal would tell them to leave but in one minute they were back.
Now I thought that it would be less of a nuisance if these kids hanging around the door were inside. First, I knew some of them didn't have money. So I discreetly singled them out one by one and let them in the dance for free on one condition...don't tell anybody. Next I picked one or two more who had money but were going to make a poor choice by hanging around with no goodniks so I got these guys in late. By this time there were only two or three kids from another school and they would disappear.
Now you might say, "Oh ya. These kids will always try to get in for nothing." It never happened!
So I broke the rules and let kids in late and for nothing. On the other hand we all got what we wanted. I didn't have a hassle at the door. The kids got in the dance. The nuisances outside disappeared. The principal thought I did a good job.
So it was a Christmas dance for the kids. So now I'm not sure what the balance is. Was I bad guy for breaking rules or a good guy for allowing kids to have fun?
