Crafty kid + smart teacher = happy memory.
Japanese schools can sometimes get a bad rap for not being understanding of students, especially when news stories like teachers forcibly cutting their pupils’ hair hit the Internet.
But that makes it all the more important to share the good stories too. Japanese Twitter user @_h_e_r_o_i_n_ recently posted a Valentine’s Day memory from their elementary school days that racked up over 100,000 likes on Twitter, meaning there were a lot of hearts spread around the virtual space. Here’s what they had to say:
▼ It’s quite short and very sweet (translation below)
“When I was in elementary school, we weren’t allowed to bring Valentine’s Day chocolate to school. But I figured so long as I didn’t get caught it didn’t matter, so I brought some anyway. But then the teacher held an inspection and said, ‘Anybody who brought chocolate, stay in the classroom. Everyone else, out.’ I was so scared. I thought I was going to get in trouble! But then when the other students left, the teacher smiled and said, ‘Okay, now you can put your chocolate in the desk of the person you want to give it to.’ What a happy memory.”
That’s pretty gosh darn cute. In elementary school, there’s nothing worse than having a crush and wanting to give them chocolate on Valentine’s Day, but holding back because you fear being caught and made fun of by your classmates.
Major props to the teacher for being that aware of not only their students’ desires, but also how to go about it in a non-embarrassing way. What could’ve easily been a traumatizing memory of the teacher haranguing them in front of their laughing classmates instead turned into something much nicer.
Here’s how Japanese Twitter reacted:
“I like how the teacher rewards honesty by doing this, if you admit you brought it.”
“I wanted to bring chocolate as a kid but never did. This would’ve been great.”
“After hearing that, I would’ve put the chocolate in the teacher’s desk.”
“But what if you wanted to give it to someone in a different class?”
“And wouldn’t the other kids figure out who did it eventually anyway?”
Hey! This isn’t the time to be pointing out flaws in the teacher’s plan — this is a designated cute zone, only “d’awws” are allowed.
And if you need a bit of a longer stay in the designated cute zone, check out this adorable stamp chart a husband helped his wife make to overcome her short-temperedness and stamp on days she didn’t get mad.
Source: Twitter/@_h_e_r_o_i_n_
Top image: Pakutaso