This year, I did something unprecedented. I had pushed students into the deep end and gotten them to present a book review in front of the whole school. To honour their valiant act, I went to McDonalds to buy burgers for each of them. I have taught long enough at NorthLight to know that it is indeed not easy for them to step out of their comfort zone, much less attempt something that would send them hyperventilating. (Not an exaggeration. I had to hold space for a young man and continually ask him to keep deep breaths.) If a burger could make these reticent young men and women feel better about their effort, then why not?

To put things into context, I have got to confess that I spent three years at a primary school without forking a single cent on Children’s Day gifts.