They're not as old and as big as they think they are

So, I took my kids to the library yesterday (we go every two weeks), and something amusing happened. The kids are all wandering around finding books to check out and I come across a pack of my 8th grade boys (I want you to get the full picture: 3 out of 5 of them are football players, and all of them are taller than me) making a bunch of noise about a book. You know what my first thought is? They found something inappropriate in a book and they're all basking in it. But no. I hear things like, "Oh, which one's Bert and which one's Ernie?" and "I like the one in the garbage can. What's his name?" Yes, they are gathered around a Sesame Street book (they keep Beginner Reader books around for ELL kids and Special Ed). I thought about nagging them about finding a book in their Lexile (reading level), but then I decided to just stand there and smile and add some input like, "I remember the show before there was Elmo" and "my favorite was always Snuffy, the elephant". It amused me so. It just proves my theory that middle schoolers aren't too sure all the time if they want to be big kids and get freedom and be treated like young adults, or be little kids and color and read Sesame Street books. And that's why I love them.