Kindergarten student had a difficult home situation and needed a place to live—his one question to his teacher gave him more
A child might feel a strong sense of love and connection with the most unexpected people. One boy found that kind of love in his kindergarten teacher, who fulfilled more than her share of responsibilities to help him. The boy, SJ, had a difficult home situation and his family didn't have anywhere to go while he was in kindergarten. His kindergarten teacher, Adrienne and her husband decided to take him in until things got better. But then the boy asked the couple one question and they couldn't help but agree, per an interview on the Jennifer Hudson Show.
When SJ arrived in Adrienne's class in March during one school year, the teacher knew that a boy needed a lot more than just education. It wasn't easy for him academically either, as he had joined in so late, but he needed Adrienne's support in the other aspects as well. One of those things was washing his hair. SJ had really long hair and the teacher decided to help him wash it at school. But then moved to doing it at her house. "They used to wash my hair at their house and that made me feel that they loved me," the boy explained. Adrienne pointed out that most of the teachers at her school, Title One, were doing a lot more than their work and nobody wanted to take in a student in March.
"I met him and his family when they were walking down the hallway. He had never been to school before, so he needed a lot of help academically," Adrienne continued. "But that hair, you saw it down his back. It was very long. I needed to do it at home." Her husband was super surprised when he came back home and saw a child with shampoo on their counter. But then he brushed it off as a "regular day" for his wife, who was used to going above and beyond for her students. The woman shared that she would check in on her students, bring them snacks, supplies and clothes. She even went as far as to taking a COVID test at her student's house during the pandemic.
SJ could feel the love in all his teacher did for him. "So there were some things going on in my house. We were about to move, but we didn't have anywhere to go. They took me into their house and then I just wanted them to adopt me because I felt loved." Although the couple felt lacking at first, they agreed to the boy's request and decided to adopt him. "Growing as a family was difficult. He asked us to adopt him. While I felt like I was falling short and it felt very difficult, he was like, 'You love me. I see it. What's wrong?'" Her husband also felt great that the boy chose them to be his parents.
"Parenting is weird and crazy all in the same sentence. But to be chosen instead of you choosing the child, right, it warms your heart. It makes you feel like you are doing something on this Earth to make someone else's life feel better." Adrienne was teaching 23 kindergarteners in her class this year and hoped to provide all of her students at the public school with the things they needed to feel supported. Eyemart Express offered the teacher $10,000 through the show, so she could keep helping her students throughout the year.