The world today can be pretty hard on people, especially kids. While we should all strive to be kind to those we meet, in a million years it would never have occurred to me I could use fruit to do it.
Then again, bananas do have plenty of blank space, so, if you’re going to pick a slate for your “go get ’em” messages of inspiration, they kind of make sense.
All teasing aside, this story 100% melts my heart. As a parent, nothing feels better than the belief that the people who interact with my kids really see them, want to do right by them, and have their best interests at heart.
Photo Credit: Twitter
Which is exactly what this Virginia elementary school cafeteria worker is proving with her “talking bananas”, which bear encouragement and positive thoughts for the kids who walk through her lunch line. Her name is Stacey Truman, and she’s worked at Kingston Elementary School for almost a decade – and she’s also a mom.
“I do it for my kids at home, so I decided to bring it here because they are like my kids, too.”
Her banana messages say things like “keep going,” “you’re a superhero,” “always do your best,” and “you are loved” – all messages that kids can benefit from hearing from wherever they can.
For their part, the kids love the bananas and their messages (how could they not?). In fact, they’re the ones who dubbed the fruity notes “talking bananas” in the first place.
I think it might be hard to throw those peels away on the way back to class.
Photo Credit: Twitter
Stacey’s little bits of banana inspiration have been shared and shared again since the school’s principal, Sharon Shewbridge, began uploading images of the messages to Twitter.
“I shared it on social media because we need more positive messages out there. Mrs. Truman is so encouraging and does so much for the students and staff at Kingston. It would be great if all of our school cafeterias were able to share messages like this for their students.”
Photo Credit: Twitter
You may not have access to a crop of kids and a bunch of bananas every day, but it doesn’t matter – if we look hard enough, we can all find small ways to encourage and boost someone’s confidence every single day.
You can always use a post-it note.
