As an early childhood educator for 25 years, I developed a deep appreciation for the kindness of children. Of all the random acts of kindness I observed between children, which far exceeded instances of bullying, the one that stands out most in my mind came from a 4-year-old named Kaelan, who battled childhood leukemia for the three of the four years he attended Cherry Preschool.
He climbed up the slide like a superhero, reassuring the child not to worry saying, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here for you. I’ll go down with you.”
Despite all of the painful and exhausting treatments he received during those three years, Kaelan embodied the spirit of giving and inclusion that we tried to teach all of our children at the school. He made sure others around him were happy, frequently coming to the aid of his friends who were sad or needing comfort or help. The enthusiasm with which he approached everything, from singing to dancing to games to playing with his classmates, filled our hearts with joy.
The random act that I will never forget occurred on the playground. A child Kaelan didn’t even know had climbed to the top of a tall slide and sat there crying in terror. He was afraid to slide or climb down. The teachers tried to reach him from the ladder but he kicked them away and became even more hysterical. They feared he was so agitated he would fall from the top, so they tried speaking to him quietly to calm him down enough to allow them to help him.
But Kaelan saw the solution. He climbed up the slide like a superhero, reassuring the child not to worry saying, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here for you. I’ll go down with you.” Perhaps the fearful child was calmed by seeing someone his own size approach him by climbing up the slide. When Kaelan reached the child, he cheerfully told him to sit on his lap so they could come down together. Once the situation was safely resolved, the teachers heaped praise on Kaelan, which he shrugged off saying, “You can always count on me.”
Kaelan graduated from preschool but never made it to kindergarten. He died on October 13, 2003. During his years at Cherry Preschool, he touched many lives. Not only did many children, parents, and teachers know him, but Kaelan had younger twin brothers in the school as well. His death made a huge impact on our school community.
To honor Kaelan, we renamed the Parents’ Room Kaelan’s Community Room and the children and teachers created a friendship table pictured in the featured image. Kaelan made the heart at its center and the words around the table were among his favorites. The handprints were those of children in the school.
Kaelan touched our lives with his exuberant singing (he especially loved Bad, Bad Leroy Brown), his joyful personality, his jokes and antics that brought laughter to so many. That random act of kindness he extended to a child he didn’t know who needed empathy, comforting words, and the lap of a peer to get out of a frightening situation is one I will never forget. Clearly, we need more Kaelan’s in our country right now.
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Laurie LevyBoomer. Educator. Advocate. Eclectic topics: grandkids, special needs, values, aging, loss, & whatever. Author: Terribly Strange and Wonderfully Real.
This story brought comfort to me today, Laurie. I miss Kaelan, though I know him only through this story. What an extraordinary child. “You can always count on me.” Perhaps because his life was so fragile, he knew he had nothing much to fear and others around him sensed that about him.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful story.
Thanks, Betsy. He was a remarkable child. You may be right that having gone through so much in his short life, he had exceptional empathy for the suffering of others.
What a wonderful, heartbreaking story, Laurie. Who knows if Kaelan’s own sense of mortality was at play here, but it doesn’t really matter. He was clearly a remarkable and very kind soul. Rest in peace, dear boy.
Thanks, John. All of us who were privileged to know Kaelan think of his example and try our best to incorporate his empathy and loving spirit in our own lives.
Laurie, this beautiful story brought tears to my eyes. How wonderful that Kaelan, at age 4, could figure out what that other child needed and give it to him. A child he didn’t even know. And I’m also very heartened by your comment that the acts of kindness you observed far exceeded the acts of bullying. Thank you!
Thanks, Suzy. I know there is the perception that children are basically self-centered, but my years with the young ones showed me just the opposite. I have often wondered why this spirit of kindness and inclusion is lost for some as they mature.
Oh, dear, I teared up when reading this story, Laurie. It’s just beautiful. Kaelan was an angel in the best sense.
Perhaps because he suffered so much pain in his short life, he understood the pain of others. I found young children to be remarkable in their capacity for acceptance and kindness. Kaelan was the epitome of the caring community we worked to create.
Laurie, from many of your stories I know your passionate work with the preschool you founded. This story of little Kaelan is the most touching.
Thanks, Dana. He was a remarkable child.
We often hear about how cruel children can be, and not enough about how kind they can be. Kaelan touched my heart — I like to think of his kindness reverberating still. Thanks for such a beautiful story, Laurie — even tho it made me cry.
Thanks, Barb. I think Kaelan was exceptional in his capacity for empathy and kindness, but most of the children I knew were amazingly caring and inclusive. We called them our playground ambassadors when they went to elementary school.
Congratulations on crafting a narrative that makes Kaelan almost as memorable to the reader as he was to those who knew him in real life. His seeming equanimity and empathy call to mind something Maurice Sendak wrote about visiting children who were terminally ill in a hospital (and drawing for them and conversing with them). I can send you a longer quote off-site if you’re interested but the bottom line was that, “children know everything.” And moreover that all of his writing was geared to the assumption that children know emotional truth, no matter how much adults may try to hide it from them.
I would like to see that quote, Dale. I’m sure Kaelan had a sense of his illness. How could he not with all of the treatments he went through? His parents were very religious, observant Catholics, so perhaps there was some comfort for him in what he was told. Regardless, he was a very special guy whose random (and intended) acts of kindness always moved me deeply.
Dale, how sweet that you quote Maurice Sendak. Suzy references him too in her story this week.
We live in a combined apartment and thus have two kitchens, but by NYC law an apartment cannot have more than one cooktop. So we removed the stove from the smaller kitchen leaving the handy extra fridge and the sink. It’s near our bedroom and we call it THE NIGHT KITCHEN!
Watch out for bakers with moustaches in that Night Kitchen!
Thanx Dale, problem is my husband has a mustache too so I have to let him in!
Such a touching, well-written story. Thank you for sharing this.
Thanks, Penny. It was fun to remember that era when my daughters were young.