Kindness and a Network

“I get by with a little help from my friends.”

~ John Lennon and Paul McCartney

We all know the value of networks, but who knew how valuable a middle school network could be?

One of my children recently began middle school at a school significantly larger than the very small elementary school at which he had happily spent the last few years.  The new school’s campus is much larger and he now has to find his way to a different room for each class – something that can seem rather daunting at first.

To my great delight, my son reported that the children who graduated from his elementary school in the last couple of years made his first day at the new school much easier and more pleasant.  A boy a year ahead walked him to a couple of his classes when he realized that my son was lost.  A girl two years ahead of my son pointed him in the right direction, too.  Another older boy joined my son for lunch.  And an older girl helped my son open the lock on his locker, which neither my son nor his teacher could manage.  As small as my son’s prior school is – and it is tiny, the children obviously develop terrific relationships that serve them well in middle school.