The subject of tattoos comes up in the most unexpected of places, even with the little ones...

1) Today I was sitting at a table of kindergartners. I noticed one little boy named Jacob had a lot of spiderman tattoos up the side of his arm. When I commented on how cool I thought they were, the little guy I work with, "Joe", pokes me in the shoulder and says, "uh, I gotta tell ya something. When I get old, I'm gonna get a big tattoo of the 'HUNK' all over my back." Knowing that he loves superheroes (and yes I work with him cause he has tons of issues) I said, "oh, you mean 'the Hulk!'" Joe says back, "NO!NO! NO!...you know...The 'HUNK', the big green guy!"

2) The principle calls me in frantically to deescalate a 5th grader who drove his teacher and the class outta of the room by holding a chair above his head. When I walk in the room he shouts, " you can't control me!" I respond, "you're right, but I can keep you safe, that's my job." He yells some more about all the stuff he's going to do that I can't control and ends with, "and then I'll get a big tattoo of a skull on my forehead!" I respond, "that actually sounds pretty cool." And, with that, he put the chair down, and my work was done for another day.