The Southwest Voice

When my daughter started kindergarten I was excited but at the same time felt sad about her first step out of my direct care. I cried for a week and then started to enjoy home for half a day with just one child. 

She was very enthused about school and it was fun to hear her stories when she came home!  I was convinced I had a female Einstein to nurture. 

The teacher called me after the first round of tests and said that she indeed, was very intelligent and I should expect some unique questions from her inquiring mind. She said that together we would make sure that she stayed busy and challenged. My buttons were bursting!  

Most mothers in the 60s were stay-at-home moms. Women were tentatively entering the full-time work world. I had excellent typing skills so I worked at home typing letters and reports for various businesses and school papers for college students (this was before PCs). When kindergarten started, I had a job typing a doctoral thesis for a local professor who was earning his PhD in education. It was very interesting and informative. I couldn’t wait until my 3-year-old took his nap so I could work on the thesis. 

One day when the professor brought some new material over, he asked me how my daughter was doing in kindergarten. My eyes lit up and my face beamed with pride. I explained to him that her test results were way above average. He was excited and said he’d really like to meet her some day. 

“Some day” happened the next week when he brought me some new work and corrections from the previous week. As we were talking, I heard something scratching at the front door. I opened the door and there, on all fours, was my exceptionally bright daughter. As soon as she saw me she started barking. 

I urged her to come in and stand up and meet the professor. She wagged her “tail” and stuck her tongue out, taking deep breaths like a thirsty dog, and looked up at him from her place on the floor and smiled. She even scratched at his pant leg! When he reached down to “pet” her she barked.   

He asked, “Is this your daughter?”

I wanted to say, “No, it’s a neighbor child that I watch after school,” but I was foiled when my 3-year-old son came bounding out of his room and yelled “Sissy!” 

Sensing my embarrassment, the good professor said, “Sometimes children get so involved in their pretending that they can’t be coaxed out of it until they are ready.” 

He finally left and said he’d see me next week. The minute he was out the door, I grabbed that sweet little bright child and said, “Will you stand up for pity sake! What are you doing? 

She resisted all attempts I made to get her to stand on two feet. In fact, she continued to bark at me. In between barks, she told me that the teacher had said they could be whatever they wanted to be until tomorrow morning when school started again. My budding genius wanted to be a “thirsty dog.” She apparently got that idea because her job was to keep the dog’s water bowl full so he didn’t get thirsty.  

When she left for school the next day I reminded her to listen to her teacher and try to do her schoolwork on time. She barked, wagged her tail and headed up the street with the rest of the neighborhood school children. I noticed her best friend was hopping, wearing rabbit ears and eating a carrot!