I don’t think he understands what ‘love’ is.

I can’t tell this story well enough to make it as funny as it was.

Things to know:

1. I have a boy in my class who is very quiet. He also doesn’t like fruits and vegetables very much. No worries – he’s always good about trying a bite. He’s good as gold.
2. We have three tables at lunchtime but only two teachers. I spend my lunch monitoring the manners at two tables.
3. On this day, my own table was having troubles and the unmanned table had three children who kept shooting me Knowing Glances, so I knew they were up to no good. Quiet Boy was also at this table.
4. To make sure everything was on the up & up, I put an iPad facedown in the middle of their table and hit ‘record’. When they asked me why, I smiled and said, “I just need to make sure everyone is using their good words.”
5. When lunch came to an end, the children were mostly dismissed, but Quiet Boy was still at the table, taking bites of his salad and shuddering each time. I told him he could be done if he wanted, but he shook his head. The tortured grimacing and swallowing continued, and I kept telling him, “You do not have to eat any more of that salad. Don’t you want to be done?” He shook his head each time. Ok. You do you, kid.
6. Later at nap, I reviewed the audio footage. The Glancing Children had cleaned up their act – their conversation was silly, but not bad. Then I heard Quiet Boy say, “I’m gonna eat all my salad. I love salad. I love it.”

What?? It was hard not to bust out laughing at nap. His brain might love salad, but his mouth does not.