Letter to a Parent

I sent this via email to our school secretary so she could forward it to this child's parents.
He's not one of 'my' kids. I had to do a little detective work to find out which child it was, helped by the fact that one of my kids is in his (2nd grade) class. I asked questions and finally found out.
I couldn't just let this one go by.

As always, kid name/school name changed.
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Hello,

I'm the director of the (shh it's a secret) after school program at Excellent Elementary.

I wanted to tell you what a great person Kevin is.

Last week, I was arriving in early afternoon to set up program. Kevin was on the playground with his class for recess. He and a bunch of friends were playing soccer. I usually wait at the gate until it's safe to cross that section of the blacktop, knowing that they're very serious about their soccer games.

On that particular day, though, I didn't have to wait. Kevin saw me standing there waiting. He came to the gate and told me, "I will walk with you and protect you."

He accompanied me across the back of the building, keeping himself between me and the game, despite my telling him it wasn't necessary.

He held up a hand, ready to block the ball if he had to.
"I will keep you safe," he promised me.

He did, too. I was safe all the way to the building.

I have told many parents over the years of doing after school care that the wonderful things their children do when the parents aren't around really shows how well those kids are being taken care of and taught. It's obvious that Kevin has been shown integrity and heart by his demonstration of those things.

Thanks for raising a fine human.