Friday Inspiration – Mason & The Snow Leopard
Tomorrow is Mason’s birthday. He’ll be turning 8. Where on EARTH does the time go? There’s an entire separate post or 10 wrapped up in that topic but I’ll do my best to stay on target and save my mother’s tears for another time.
When I picked Mason up from school on Thursday, one of the first things he said was that he had to bring a “treat” to school tomorrow. I promptly reminded him that ‘Young Author’s Week’ was next week and that I didn’t need to bring anything to school until Wednesday. That’s when it dawned on me at the same time that he started telling me that he wanted to bring something in for his birthday. Right! His birthday! This would be his last day of school before the actual day, so…there you have it. UGH. What to do.
As we walked we talked about other things, went to Tae Kwon Do practice and back home for homework and dinner. All the while in the back of my mind is the thought, “what am I going to do?!”. Then, at dinner, it hit me. We can do the same thing we did last year, and in fact, maybe this is just what we’ll do every year. We can adopt an endangered animal for the classroom. This idea was so great last year. Everyone loved it. I loved that I wasn’t bringing a food “treat” to the classroom. Our school has a “no sugar” policy which fortunately for me eliminates the need to bring a sugary treat. Thank goodness for small miracles! But this leads to the question of what do you bring?! A while ago I started calling this generation of kids the “Goodie Bag Generation” because of all the goodie bags that we seem to constantly get. They’re plastic bags filled with pencils and erasers and plastic (cover the eyes of the kids reading) crap! I once made the mistake of actually calling some of that plastic stuff “crap” to Mason and he kind of flipped out. I guess I would flip out too if someone called my things crap, but I mean come on! What else is it??!!
So, last year we adopted a whale for the classroom instead. HUGE hit. I’m using it again. And then I’ll be using it again and again and again for all of the birthday’s to come where I’m asked to bring something to the classroom unless we come up with some other idea that helps save either the earth or an animal etc. I’m totally open to suggestions for this so if you have any to offer, I’m all ears.
This year we’ve adopted a snow leopard. Mason’s teacher is wild about penguins so I thought that would be the animal of choice but I was wrong. Possibly because I suggested it and he wanted to be making this decision on his own, but he said it was because not everyone in the class liked penguins. Really? Aren’t they one of those animals that everyone thinks are really cool? Maybe not. He ultimately picked the snow leopard because he said it was pretty so that the girls would like it, but fierce so that the boys would like it. I couldn’t argue with that logic so a snow leopard it is!
Mason, I LOVE that you have a HUGE heart and want to do good in this world. That saving an animal was more important to you than handing out another pencil or eraser or plastic toy that winds up in our landfill. I’m so proud of who you are and who you are becoming. You’re a truly unique boy and I’m amazed by you every day.
We chose the “Defenders Of Wildlife” for our donation. Mason is still only almost 8 and having a choice between one company that offered a certificate and information card and another that offered the same but with the addition of a small stuffed animal of a snow leopard, you can imagine who won. So, in a few days a cute little snow leopard stuffed animal will arrive in the mail. Tomorrow he’ll bring in his certificate of adoption and information card to share with the class and I don’t have to stress out over making sure I have enough of something for everyone!
Happy early birthday Mason!! I love you!
