Thursday, March 24, 2022
Cecil was the son of a former classmate & friend, Juanita Phillips Hintz. He became a middle school student of mine at Shallow Water School. His Grandpa Cecil came to every school activity & program we had! Memories of Cecil from that time still bring a smile to my heart!
He was double-jointed and enjoyed entertaining his classmates by placing the backs of his hands on his hips and clapping his elbows! We never tired of his sense of humor.
He did have one bad habit that I was determined to eliminate. He complained incessantly! Whenever I gave an assignment (no matter how simple or complicated it was), he thought it was his duty to grumble about it! I could never tolerate complaining but nothing I tried seemed to phase him until I established the “Cecil” complaining rule! Everytime anyone complained about an assignment, I doubled the work for them.
One time in particular stands out to me. On a spelling pretest, students were to write each word they missed five times. I reminded the class that this assignment was due before recess so they’d better get to work!
Cecil: “Ugh!” Grumble! Grumble!
Me (very calmly): “Make that ten times, Cecil.”
Cecil: “That’s not fair!”
Me: “Make that twenty times, Cecil!”
By this time, all the kids’ eyes were beginning to bug out as everyone was wondering who was going to win the struggle.
I don’t remember how high the number actually got before Cecil realized the hole he had dug for himself, but I do remember that his grumbling decreased dramatically from that day on! Sometimes he would start to say something but catch himself, shake his head and look at me with a grin!
I loved my job and I loved that boy! I always felt that Juanita would’ve enjoyed knowing that I did!
