Time is “… the measured or measurable period during which an action, process or condition exists or continues; a nonspatial continuum that is measured in terms of events which succeed one another from past through present to future …” (Time, n.d.)
I was a mentor of an elementary school student for almost five years. One day just before the end of our mentor session my mentee began to have a tantrum. I hadn’t seen them have a tantrum in two years. My steady consistent calm voice did not help change the situation and the tantrum began to escalate. I decided to sit and wait while they rolled on the floor, stomped their feet, cried and pouted. After realizing the situation was not going to improve I got up and walked across to the classroom to get their teacher. The teacher came to our table and told my mentee, “Use your words!” After a few minutes my mentee calmed down and said they were upset. The teacher asked, “Why are you so upset?”. They said, “We spent all this time reading and we didn’t get a chance to write!” The teacher looked at me with a twinkle in her eyes. I believe we both shared an inner smile because all my mentee wanted was more time and attention. The teacher explained that all they had to do was ask me to stay longer and they did. The teacher walked back to the classroom and my mentee with tears in their eyes sat back down at the table. We wrote together for fifteen minutes, did our secret handshake then they went back to class.
During the experience I went with the flow, but afterwards I was overwhelmed and extremely touched. I sat in my car in the school parking lot in tears. I felt joy. All my mentee wanted was more time to write a story. That’s what we always did. We read together; I coached them while they did class work then we’d write a story. As a parent we want to give our children the world, but really what is priceless and worth more than any luxury material item is our time. Time is more precious than giving an expensive gift.
Copyright © 2023 by Allura Eshmun
Time (n.d.) Merriam-Webster online dictionary. Retrieved September 19, 2019 from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/time