Why Kindergartners Are the Same as High Schoolers

I am a senior in high school and I have spent the last four years observing the habits of my peers.

Through my additional experience working with kindergartners I have come to the conclusion Kindergartners are the same as high school students. Kindergartners are perceived as cute, happy, little children but in reality there are only a mere two feet separating the average kindergartner from a moody high schooler. Kindergartners, like high schoolers, sleep during class. Every day kindergartners fall asleep at my work. They slump over during carpet time and the whole class goes wild.

The same thing happens in high school. There’s always that one kid in the back who had too much fun last night and is now passed out, head on their textbook. Just like in kindergarten everyone laughs when someone falls asleep in class. If you have ever looked at the dating life of a kindergartner it may surprise you how similar it is too the dating life of a high schooler. I work with kindergartners on a daily basis and there is so much “drama” over who is “dating” who.

One day at work we had a dance party. We started listening to a song about vowel sounds and two of my students started slow dancing. A boy went up to the “couple” dancing and asked the girl if he could dance with her next, she said no. The boy ran out of the room crying, ” she doesn’t love me, she only loves Jake.” I ran after him and found him with his head in a corner and tears streaming down his face.

A high school boy may not have the same reaction to rejection but the hurt is all the same. In high school it is so hard to keep up with who is dating who. One-day Sam’s dating Sarah and the next he’s dating Hannah. The same form of confusion can be seen in a kindergarten classroom. For example a girl in my class named “Sarah” has a different “boyfriend” every week. At one time she stated she had seven boyfriends and all were madly in love with her.

Recently she tried to marry a boy in my class but ended up making him cry. When asked why she wanted to marry him “Sarah” , with a bat of her eyelashes, said, ” because he’s so handsome.” The young boy quickly turned to her and said ” no I’m not”, he looked terrified. The attitudes of high schoolers and kindergartners are also the same. Kindergartners and high schoolers complain about the same things.

Why is it so hot? Why do we have to learn in school? What! we actually have homework?… The list could go on and on. Both ages have a similar attitude towards learning as well.

For the most part high schoolers and kindergartners don’t mind having to go to school. The part they hate is actually having to learn. Lunch and “recess” are the favorite parts of the day for both kindergartner and high school students because these parts of the day require no learning. The attention spans of both high schoolers and kindergartners are very small. Teachers of both ages must do a lot of redirecting during class time because both ages get bored quickly and are easily distracted. In the end there are many more reasons why high school age students are the same as kindergartners.

I could list them all but the high schooler, or kindergartner, in me is kicking in…