Sam (le petit) ([Little] Sam)

                                      

You probably don't recognize the person in this drawing. It is I! Drawn by Sam.

 Sam le petit or, frequently, just plain Sam, is the kindergarten teacher's son. There is another Sam in the class, Sam le grand (Big Sam). He is almost always addressed as such in order to differentiate between the two. He is, indeed, big, standing easily a head taller than the other children. I would guess his age to be 6 or 7. He started school a couple of weeks into the term, which is why he is rarely called "Sam."

But I digress. Back to Sam (le petit). He can be a very sweet little boy, but he can also irritate the life out of me. He is the youngest in his family and the only boy, so he may be a bit spoiled at home. At school, he frequently acts like a spoiled child. At the beginning of the school year, when they played with toys everyday, Sam would always have to have the big car. If someone got there first, he pushed them off or cried until they let him have it. In addition, Sam had to have the Fisher Price dashboard with the steering wheel and detachable cell phone. If someone had the phone, Sam either took it away or cried until he got it. There was always a boy willing to push him around.

The toys have not made an appearance in class for a long time. These days it is a particular pattern of spoon that Sam wants. He will either run to the spoon collection before his name is called for his meal or run around the class and take the spoon away from whoever has it. Sometimes a child whose name is earlier on the list will take two spoons and will give the favorite one to Sam. In the last two weeks that behavior has provoked me so much that I have taken the spoon away from Sam and told him to wait his turn. I have visions of going through the spoons and removing all of that particular pattern.

For some reason, Sam does mind me fairly well. His mother will tell him to do something and he may ignore her until he catches my eye. Then he quietly complies. 

He also minds "monsieur," the teacher of one of the higher grades, I think second, but am not sure. Occasionally Monsieur gets sent for so that he can scold or even spank Sam. Sometimes Sam gets sent to Monsieur's class.

With such a strong personality, I pray that Sam will soon start thinking more of others. He loves talking to Weena (I'm sure it's not spelled that way, but that's how it's pronounced), the clinic's receptionist's baby. When one of the smaller children falls or is otherwise hurt, he is quite sympathetic. Just imagine the kind of adult he could be if he learns to demonstrate such caring while still being such a leader!

The artist, Sam, and his work.