A Lesson from the 2 yo Class

I've been watching my little two year olds at work and noticed something interesting. Kid A will hit kid B at no fault of their own. So I'll talk to Kid A and tell them to use gentle touches and words and all that stuff. Then I'll tell them that they have to say sorry and give Kid B a hug. Often times Kid A will be reluctant and kind of hang back. Then Kid B, then one who was hit, will either sit there with their hands out waiting for their hug, or even walk up to the kid who hit them and hug them.

What an amazing example of forgiveness and mercy! Before we are really even ready to ask for forgiveness there God is with open hands, and not just waiting, but coming towards us. Even asking for forgiveness is God working in me, and God is working in me even before I feel like I'm ready. It also encourages me to go ahead and take those steps to reach out, even when I don't feel like it. I know that God is already there ready and coming towards me. And it encourages me to reach out and be ready to forgive those around me.

"Cool" t-shirts for kids

I'm just not sure what some parents are thinking when they buy t-shirts for their kids. I mean how can these t-shirts possibly be a good thing? I understand that they are trying to be cute and funny, but it still doesn't make sense to me. Kids, and people in general, often live up to what is said about them, so are these the kinds of things we want the kids to live up to? We want kids to not listen? And then to think that is funny and cute? We want our kids to think that they only have to be good if there is bribery involved? Not to mention that even if these t-shirts were ok in general, they should only be for older kids. These shirts are made in sizes for kids in early elementary school! Whatever happened to nice butterflies and flowers or footballs and superheros? Aren't those things more appropriate for 5 and 6 year olds? Why are we encouraging our kids to grow up faster than they already are? I just don't get it.

Random life observations

I'm thankful for the guy I work with when I'm in the grade school class. We work well together and seem to have fairly similar styles of working with kids. A perfect example was today. We just got a bunch of yarn and that is a huge novelty thing right now. So a bunch of the kids are making bracelets and I'm teaching a couple kids to knit. Then he was doing magic tricks. He was floating on air, pulling coins out of no where, and doing card tricks. It was just a nice example of how we are different, but work well together because we enjoy interacting with the kids and playing with them.

I also love my church! We had our last rehearsal for our Christmas program tonight and it went ok. We didn't have a whole lot of kids, but with a few changes it should work ok. Pray for us though, life is crazy for everyone right now!

Thank God for the Little Things

I love how simple little things can really brighten my day. Things like a friend telling you how they like you. The smile of the lady at the Circle K that I stop at everyday, and the free drinks they give me. The excited face of a small child when they see you. Hearing kids want to help people with less than they have. Sitting and watching the refreshing rain together. Cuddling a cute kid after a stressful day. May I never forget to see these things and be thankful for them.

Another thing I'm thankful is for not being the boss at work. I know there is drama going on at work right now, not sure exactly what happened, and I don't care, but I'm glad I'm not responsible for dealing with it. There is way too much of such things when you work with almost all women. I also know there are other issues not related to the drama, like people being sick, and loosing the assistant director. So my poor boss has so much to deal with right now. And this on top of having a new little baby at home! And he seems to be handling it all, but I'm sure it is hard on him. I don't envy his job one little bit!

Crazy Evenings

I'm soo glad that I work at night! There is just so much less drama to deal with when there is only one other lady there. And the two of us get along really well, so it is great. We are both able to just have fun with the kids and relax. It is nice. Like last night the kids were just CRAZY! I have no idea why. They ran around out side for almost two hours, and I mean literally ran for most of that, and were still crazy. So we went inside and they played in there and got to stay up about 30 minutes later than usual. But they were still crazy. So the other teacher and I just gave up! We just let them be crazy. We had four brothers and they ended up in a friendly wrestling match and we just laughed at them! It is fun to do that some times! And it is nice to be working with someone who can sit back and laugh at the sometimes!

Another random thought. I'm glad my church is starting a children's music program. I have always loved music and I know it is important, but it has really hit me the past couple of days. I have been in the two-year-old class and I watch them sing. It amazes me how much they learn from singing and how much of the songs they can sing. Even these kids who have just learned to talk love to sing and do it quite well! I can just imagine how much music can teach these kids about God. I can just imagine these kids singing about how much God loves them. I wish I could teach them those songs.

Character-building outside of God?

Interesting day today. The kids at work were having a hard day, just kind of crazy. And then there was lightening so we couldn't go outside and run some of the energy out so they were even crazier! So the assistant director who was working with me today pulled out this paper with seven character-building things. They were things like respect and kindness. She decided that we needed to work on them with our kids.

Now, I agree, they do struggle with a lot of the things on the list. And I agree that it is important to teach those things to people in general, and kids in particular. But I question the value of doing this in a secular environment. I think it is good to try, and I think it will work to some extent. At the same time, though, from their point, why bother? Isn't this an every person for themselves world?

Like we have one girl who gets picked on a lot, partly because she annoys everyone else. So from a secular worldview, why should they be nice to her? It doesn't get them anything. But Christ tells us to love everyone, even our enemies and the unlovable. So from a Christian worldview, out of our love for God, we will be nice to everyone around us.

Also, it is hard to be nice to people who treat us badly! We can't do it under our own will power, even if we wanted to. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that gives us the power. It is the power of Christ's resurrection!

That makes this whole idea a struggle for me. I want to teach kids these qualities. But I'm not allowed to share the real reason that we should do them. And I'm not allowed to share the One who can give them the strength to do so.

Funny Kids!

Wow, I can't believe that it is already the middle of May! It is weird because I have actually been in Tucson for 8 months now, that is the longest I have been anywhere in a long time! It is kind of a mixed blessing. I'm getting jealous of all my friends who are still in school and get the summer off. I really miss traveling and getting to pick up and go places for the summer. But it is also nice to not have to move all my stuff AGAIN! It is also nice to not have to make friends all over again. It is nice to not have to look for a new church and learn my way around somewhere else.

And now for a funny story. One of my little two year olds was driving his car all over my body. So he drives it down my chest and says "look, a roller coaster!" I about died laughing. You really do get over being touched when you have young kids around! They just don't get that there are certain parts that it isn't the best idea to touch or talk about. They are just so cute and innocent, well, most of the time anyway!

Lessons from Kids

Let's see, today was better than yesterday. Nothing big and exciting, but nice. A couple of interesting thoughts. I was talking with one of my older boys and he asked if I went to church because I was coloring a picture of a cross. I told him yes and asked if he did. He told me that his parents thought he was too young to go, but he did have a Bible. With all of my children's ministry stuff, this makes me sad. I hate the idea that kids are too young to learn or think or do. Kids are amazing Christians and we have a lot to learn from them. This is one big reason that I love my church. They are very committed to children and helping kids to learn and do NOW, not just some time in the far off future.

And speaking of learning from kids, it is interesting to watch my two year olds when they get in trouble. Most of the time, they are soo repentant! Like if I make them sit in time out for a minute, they will just come up and say "I sorry Karen." Whose heart wouldn't melt at that?! They are also so good about saying sorry to other people and giving them a hug. And the other kids are so good at forgiving them. That is how I need to be! I need to be more willing to say I'm sorry, both to God and to other people. And I need to be better at forgiving those who have hurt me. I can imagine that Jesus had things like this in mind when He said that we are supposed to become like the little children.

Crazy Day!

Wow! What a day! So my kids were nuts and I have gotten tired of them not listening, to me and to each other. Every time someone is talking, other people are talking, other people are trying to ask me questions, people are playing, people are running around. And then it took them 15 minutes to line up facing the front and not talking! So I was tired of it and decided they needed practice listening! So we played Simon Says for 30 minutes. It was really funny cause at first I could tell they didn't think it was a big deal. Oh, we are just playing a game. But then they got bored and started realizing that they weren't going to get to play outside at all. Then they were a little grouchier about the whole thing. And then we had a nice long talk about listening and about when tattling is good (another BIG problem).

And then later a girl told me that one of the other girls and one of the boys were showing thier privates to each other! AHHH! Not good! So I had to talk to them and then later tell their parents. And then one of the other girls was just having a bad day or something because she wasn't listening at all and then threw I fit when I told her she was going to bed and kicked me and the later told me and and another girl to shut up. So I put her in the "dark room" (the room connected to ours with the lights off) and she finally settled down. But then I had to talk to her mom too. So the kids in general were NUTS today! But surprisingly, I'm not terribly frustrated. This week has actually gone really fast so I'm in a pretty good mood.

On a totally different topic, the chapter in the book I'm reading (Generous Orthodoxy) that I just finished was "Why I'm Methodist." It is interesting because 5 years ago, I NEVER thought I would be United Methodist. I had some bad experiences with a UM church in my home town. Nothing terrible, just a lack of living and active faith. Then in college I found there were some exceptions to what I had seen a lot of. And moving here, I have seen even more exceptions, a whole church full of them. I'm actually excited to be Methodist at this point. I'm still not sure that I agree with everything, but there are also a lot of things that I like. I like the connectional nature of the UMC. I like the history of the UM church. I think the early Methodists were amazing and had a very well rounded view of faith. I think God must be laughing at me, coming from there is no way that I would choose to attend a UM church to loving my church and being very committed to it and even the denomination as a whole.

Grr!

It is a VERY good thing that it is Friday! I don't think I could handle another day at work without a break in between. I can tell I have no patience left at all. I feel bad for the kids because I can tell I'm getting grouchy, although my grouchy is probably normal for lots of the other teachers. It was another long day and the kids were crazy again. I was in the Kindergarten/Pre-K class for dinnertime and I can count like two kids who actually listened the whole time. I'm not talking, never needed to be reminded type listening, I don't expect that. I just want them to listen when I remind them! How hard is that?! But Friday is movie night so that was good. When we brought them inside you put them on a bed and turn on the TV and that makes it relatively easy. A good thing too, especially at the end of the week.

It was interesting as I was sitting there talking to one of the teachers about this one kid that we have, the one I talked about yesterday. She was saying how she can't handle him at all. Funny because I love him! He is a big challenge, but for the most part I enjoy it.

Well, I think I'm going to bed now. Yea, I have nothing at all that I HAVE TO do tomorrow!

Small Moments

Wow, yesterday was a very long day. I was somewhat tired and spacey when I got to work and it just got worse from there on. The kids were all kind of crazy. Then after dinner one of my girls decided she wasn't going to listen to anything, but I got to go to the two-year-old class so I didn't have to deal with that too long. Then later she decided to not listen again and ran off to another playground so I had to go get her and bring her back and then hold her so she didn't hit anyone or run off again. So I was dealing with her and that left the other teacher to deal with everyone else. I felt bad for that, but there really wasn't much I could do. Finally her mom came and took her home. And by that point I was really tired.

There was a good story from today though. One of my boys, who has some mental issues, was helping water some plants and got some dirt on his shirt. So he went to the bathroom to clean it off. I figured he would just get a paper towel to wipe it off. Well, after he had been in there a little bit, the other teacher went into check on him. Apparently he had taken off his shirt to wash it and then hung it up to dry in the bathroom! I just cracked up laughing. He is just so cute. And I needed that after the day I had.

Another good thought from the same boy. Later after we had turned out the lights he was watching the bugs playing in the night light. He was SOO excited about them. While he was doing this, I was reading and came across this quote about Ignatius of Loyola.

"We often say how even the smallest things could make his spirit soar upwards to God, who even in the smallest things was the Greatest. At the sight of a little plant, a leaf, a flower or a fruit, an insignificant worm or a tiny animal. Ignatius could soar free above the heaven and reach through into things which lie beyond the senses."

So really we should be more like this little boy, so excited and enthralled with God's creation.

Watching Kids

I love kids! They are so cute. The daycare I'm at is pretty diverse and I was thinking about that while I was watching my kids play today. They don't even have a clue that people might be different because of their skin color. It reminds me of a couple of years ago I was working with a group of kids, mostly Latino. One of the little Latina girls asks the only white girl in the group if she spoke Spanish. It never occurred to here that she was white and most likely didn't.

It makes me wonder how we end up teaching our kids about the differences. I'm sure not all of it is intentional. And where is the balance between enjoying diversity and judging people based on color. How do we know what is just making educated guesses based on past experiences and judging people?

I was also talking with one of my co-workers about what we think the kids will be like when they grow up. Even with some of the two year olds you can guess what they will be like. Some are really smart, some have great personalities, some are funny. It is even easier with the elementary kids. You can tell which ones will be the popular cheerleader type, which ones will be nerds, the class clowns, the average kids. You can see the leaders, the followers, and the ones who are in their own little world. I always want to see all these kids once they have grown up. I want to see what they are like, I want to see what they have done and all of that. It would be so interesting.