March of the Goblins

When I am teaching I tend to fully embrace what I'll call "kid-mode." I laugh a lot with my students, but the funny and poignant things they say don't always stick with me. Today, for whatever reason, it did. Sophia is 7 years old and is a very practical and clever little girl. The new song we worked on this afternoon was called "March of the Goblins." I played it and sang it to her so she could hear the tune, and the words went something like this:

Yo-ho! Yo-yo-ho! Marching up the mountains thunder! Gold! Gold! We like gold! And we'll guard our plunder!

At the end of the song, Sophia said, "Uh, Miss Caitlyn, I don't really get that."

"Get what?" I asked.

"The words."

I explained that they were goblins searching for gold, defined plunder, etc, and she said, "But why do they like gold so much? All it is is a bit of shine."

"Yes, but they're goblins," I replied. "Wouldn't you like to search for gold if you were a goblin?"

"No. I would like to read. And sing."

(pause pause pause pause......................... a glance and a smirk up at me)

"...and play the piano."

I laughed. Did I mention she's also very diplomatic? Maybe she'll be a politician someday!