Silence is Golden

My son is a silent all-star. I love walking the halls of his school with him. The girls adore him. They giggle and give shy little waves as he walks by. The boys think he's cool. He gets a lot of shout outs in the hallways. The teachers love him. I get endless comments about how polite he is, how well behaved he is, how smart he is. And what response does all of this attention get from the boy? A silent head nod or silent half grin. That's it. He has silently charmed the entire school.

I'm truly not mom-exaggerating here. I wish you could all see it. I wish I could video our walk through the hallways. But that would be a little more than embarrassing I'm sure. He is adored and it comes so naturally to him that I don't think he realizes that everyone doesn't get that kind of attention. And I truly cannot express how silent this boy is. A wave here, a nod there, and an occasional smile, but rarely a word. It's incredible.

This weekend we got a call from the school. They wanted our permission to move him into another classroom. They were compiling all of the "Talent Developement" kids into one classroom. (All schools have this program. My childhood school called it "Gifted and Talented". You know, it's the smart kids that get to leave class early to go build robots or something.) We want him to be challenged and want the best for him, but it was still a hard decision to make because he really loved his other teacher. This morning I went to school with him to help him move his gear from one classroom to the next. So I got to walk the hallways with him. As always he was silent as he was waved at, giggled at, and spoken to. He opened doors for me as we walked which got him more gushing from those who observed it. I was very proud to be his mom today, though I don't believe I can take any credit here. This is who he is. He is naturally silent and sweet.

We got to his old classroom and I thought his teacher was going to cry. She pulled me aside and let me know how wonderful my son is. She told that me he is very sensitive and mature for his age, an old soul. That is a great way for any mom to start the day. Then we went down to the other classroom where he got a standing ovation as we walked in. I'm not making that up. Every kid in the classroom stood up and cheered and clapped. It was ridiculous. And what did this boy who is so loved do. He smiled, very politely said hello to his new teacher, and silently walked to his new desk. Then he silently sat down and got right to work.

And I silently left my silent boy to silently charm the world around him as he proves that silence is truly golden.