A pre-K teacher grows suspicious when a five-year-old girl cries to her and tells her she does not want to go home. She decides to investigate and follows the girl's car to her house one day and encounters something shocking.
As Mrs. Elliot left the class, she smiled at the little kids giggling their way out of the classroom. They were excited to go home, and most were picked up by their parents. The first to leave the class was little Winnie. The five-year-old kindergartener was struggling to carry her picture books. Mrs. Elliot ran to her rescue.
"Hey, there...careful. Do you want me to carry them for you?" she asked Winnie.
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The girl chuckled. "No, it's okay, Mrs. Elliot. My dad must be waiting at the gate. It's not too far from here. I can carry them!"
Mrs. Elliot sighed. "Okay, you go ahead then. Have a nice day, Winnie!" From the corridor, she saw Winnie run to her daddy, Mr. Tyler, who was standing beside his car. This was something Mrs. Elliot was used to seeing daily after school.
However, one day, she noticed Winnie acting strange. After the final bell rang, she didn't race her friends to get out of the class first. When the principal asked Mrs. Elliot to make the rounds on the campus after her last class, she noticed her classroom door was still open when it would normally have been closed...
The classrooms were always shut after school hours, so it seemed strange when Mrs. Elliot heard a rattling noise coming from inside. She peeped in to find out what was causing the noise and was stunned.
"Winnie? What are you still doing here? I thought you had left already by now."
Mrs. Elliot observed a strange fear in the little girl's eyes. Winnie could not answer her immediately and pretended to be busy with coloring.
"Remember, your child will learn from your example and be influenced by your actions. Please do not make Winne bear the burden of your mistakes."
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"Come with me. I'll take you to your dad. He must be waiting for you outside." But to Mrs. Elliot's shock, Winnie withdrew and clung to her chair, refusing to leave the classroom.
"Winnie, what's wrong? Get up and come with me," Mrs. Elliot suggested, and the girl began to cry.
"I'm scared to go home,'" she said.
"Winnie, you can't stay here. It's already late. Come with me." Mrs. Elliot scooped the girl up and carried her outside to her dad, who was waiting for her near the car, his face worried.
"Good gracious! Thank you, Mrs. Elliot. I was just about to come in and check. What took her so long today?" Mr. Tyler sounded anxious.
"Hello, Mr. Tyler. I found Winnie in the classroom. Nothing to worry about. I knew you'd be waiting for her here."
Winnie walked straight to the car and sat in the backseat like a good girl, refusing to listen to their conversation. She silently cried, looking outside the window. Watching Winnie's strange behavior, Mrs. Elliiot couldn't help but feel bothered, but she didn't want to say or ask anything.
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Mr. Tyler drove off with his daughter, and Mrs. Elliot left, shrugging off her concerns. Maybe Winnie was just having a bad day. But she was wrong.
The next afternoon, at the end of her class, Mrs. Elliot stayed behind to make sure all her students left the classroom. But like the day before, Winnie remained seated and didn't rush out to meet her father.
"Mrs. Elliot, I don't want to go home," the girl begged when her teacher approached her, asking why she stayed behind. But Mrs. Elliot insisted and led her outside, where she saw that Mrs. Tyler was waiting to pick Winnie up.
"Hey, sweetie! Look what mama got for you. A new doll!" Mrs. Tyler greeted Winnie and presented her with the toy. But the girl was not happy. She vaguely thanked her mom and got in the car, tears filling her eyes.
"Thank you, Mrs. Elliot! Have a nice day!" Mrs. Tyler said to Mrs. Elliot and drove past the main gate, leaving a confused Mrs. Elliot behind. She suspected something was wrong and decided to find out more. She quickly hailed a taxi and instructed the driver to follow Mrs. Tyler's car.
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They arrived at a posh house that matched Winnie's descriptions of her home. The gate was already open, and Mrs. Elliot found Winnie's car outside. She walked over to the main door, and just as she was about to ring the doorbell, she heard Mr. and Mrs. Tyler's angry voices.
"It's all your fault! I don't want to talk to you or see your stupid face! Why don't you get the hell out of my life?" Mr. Tyler shouted.
Mrs.Tyler replied: "How dare you call me stupid? It's YOU who's stupid, and your whole family is crazy!"
Mrs. Elliot peeped in and saw Winnie sitting on the couch with her hands on her ears. She was terrified by her parents' heated argument.
"So this is why you've been refusing to go home?!" Mrs. Elliot thought and immediately pressed the doorbell. Mr. and Mrs. Tyler were silenced, and Mrs. Tyler rushed to the door to see who it was.
"Mrs. Elliot?!?" They were startled. "What are you doing here?"
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The teacher greeted them and took Winnie's mother aside to talk privately.
"Mrs. Tyler, I had come because I was concerned about how Winnie has been acting strange in class lately. After seeing what's happening here, I'm afraid your daughter might be affected by it. She always tells me she doesn't want to go home. Can you please tell me what's happening?" began Mrs. Elliot.
Mrs. Tyler revealed how she and her husband had been dealing with issues in the family. "...And he never understands what I'm trying to say. He sides with his mother and my sisters-in-law."
"Mrs. Tyler, every family has problems. But as parents, we should be adult enough to sort our differences in private. Arguing or fighting in front of our children affects them more than you know. Besides terrifying them, we make it difficult for them to live under a roof full of quarrels and hurtful slurs. Remember, your child will learn from your example and be influenced by your actions. Please do not make Winne bear the burden of your mistakes. Mrs. Tyler, please do what is best for your daughter."
Eventually, Mr. and Mrs. Tyler realized their mistake and decided to separate without opting for divorce just yet. While Mr. Tyler moved to his mother's house, his wife stayed in their house.
This setup did not go too well with Winnie, who had to shuttle between her mom's and dad's places often. She stayed with her dad for the first three days of the week and spent the remaining days with her mom. It took an adverse toll on her. So she decided to fix things on her own.
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"Daddy, I miss you. Why do you have to live away from us?" she asked her dad one day on the phone. "You know, mom can't cook on her own without you. She needs your help with everything, daddy. Please come home. I miss you, and I love you both."
And Winnie would tell her mom the same thing. "Mommy, I miss daddy. When is he coming back to us? I can't live without daddy. How can you? Don't you miss him like I do?"
At that moment, Winnie's mother realized she couldn't live without her husband. She regretted her hasty decision that almost ruined her daughter's happiness.
But just as Mrs. Tyler grabbed her car keys to pick up her husband, she saw him standing at the doorstep with his suitcase. She burst into tears and ran to him to apologize.
"I'm sorry, darling! We need you!" She threw herself in her husband's arms in tears.
"I'm sorry too, honey. I cannot live without you and our daughter. I love you both!"
Winnie was the happiest that day. She hugged her parents and shed tears of joy.
The next day, after the last school bell, Winnie was the first to run out to meet her parents. They waved at Mrs. Elliot, who smiled back at them before they rode away with their girl.
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What can we learn from this story?
- Do not let your domestic issues drive a wedge between you and your children. Mr. and Mrs. Tyler constantly quarreled at home without realizing how it would affect their little daughter.
- Children learn from their parents, so set a good example for them. When Mrs. Elliot saw Winnie's parents quarreling in their home, she warned them about how it could affect their daughter in the long run. She advised them not to allow Winnie to bear the burden of their mistakes.
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