What did you bring to show us?

I’m not really sure what made me think of this, but I miss Show and Tell. It was always a highlight of those early elementary school years!

I’m not sure I remember the exact way that it was executed. Did everyone get a chance to show and tell about something? Was it alphabetical by last name and every day someone else presented something? I really don’t recall, but I know I was always excited for it.

I remember bringing things like stuffed animals, pictures from a vacation, Star Wars figures, and new books. I also brought record albums, cool rocks or sea shells I found on the beach, and toys I got for Christmas.

I don’t remember ever being nervous when I was in front of my class for show and tell. Maybe this is because I knew what I was going to talk about. The fact that you weren’t graded on show and tell presentations was a plus too. (In later years, those speeches in front of classmates were much scarier.)

In a sense, show and tell continues into adulthood. When you get a new car, you take it to show a friend. A co-worker shared a video of her daughter with us yesterday. Guys show off photos of the prize fish they nabbed out on the lake. My cousin shares videos of her daughter singing. I had a patient come in and showed me his surgery scar.

Maybe us adults need to start incorporating more of these “kid” things into our lives. I would love to go into work and have circle time where we all swapped stories or did show and tell. I also think work would be better if everyone ate in a big cafeteria with a big grey trash can on wheels in the middle of it. And who wouldn’t want to go out for recess during the middle of a stressful work day?! A scheduled nap time might be nice, too!

So, why don’t you gather up the rest of the class and sit in a nice round circle. Who wants to go first? Who has something to share today?