R-E-S-P-E-C-T

It's no secret that I teach Sunday School and will become a teacher very soon. But the one pet peeve that REALLY sets me off is disrespect towards an adult. I could care less what the child did or whose at fault. I was raised to not talk back, be respectful towards adults, and to always use my manners.

Today I taught, tweens at my church, and the lesson included a craft activity to get the kids pumped about VBS which is this week. The girls were ALL into the craft activity but the boys, who are 4/5th graders, could have cared less. The other teacher and I gave them a choice to do the craft or not. BUT then they started horsing around and being really loud. SO they lost the choice and had to sit and do craft. This one child told me, after I pulled the play time, that he could do what ever he wanted and pulled out his computer.

Let me just say that I could care-LESS who the parent is or what influence they have on our church. You do not disrespect a teacher/adult and get away with it.

So I went over to the boy and told him to put his computer away. He started arguing with me and then I told him that I am not going to make a scene and he will follow directions. He complied but grumbled throughout the activity. As he was leaving, I told him that the computer would not come out during Sunday School again. He said "whatever," rolled his eyes, and said "I'm going to find a spot to plug in my computer." I chose to ignore his comments and stay positive.

Total disrespect from an 11 year old is not okay. Talking back, in my opinion, is not okay. This child has given the rest of the teachers trouble before with behavior/attitude and I simply will not stand for it. PERIOD. It may have been okay in the earlier years and seen as cute/smart but now he is going into sixth grade and has to stand by the rules like everyone else. PERIOD!

It's amazing & scary...

how many pre-teens know about different types of drugs!

Today, I taught my tweens (4&5th graders) in Sunday School. We talked about how talking about and to Jesus is not freaky and what encounters they would come to in middle school. We talked about Romans 12:1-2 where you "do not conform but be transformed" and how, in Middle school, they would have to stand up for what's right.

We talked about what they would do if something "wrong" were occurring and how it is okay to ask for help, from an adult at school, if they can't handle a situation. We started to play a game on how the students would respond to a situation by completing a sentence with one word. Each student had to think of a word to fill in the sentence with to make sense. We had about 15 kiddos so we went around in the circle and came up with an answer sentence by building upon each word. One situation/question was asked "How would you react if someone was smoking dope behind the school?" This is what let the cat out of the bag!

Some knew what dope was while others had not a clue. But the other boys and girls had no problem explaining to the clueless. Then one of my co-teachers gave examples of other drugs (like cocaine, pot) and they got it. Their responses were "I'd get a teacher or call for help." Then they asked "What if the bully tries to retaliate on me?" I explained that teacher are pretty good about protecting the identities of others and will not oust you. The discussion changed to a "don't do drugs" pretty quickly but wanted to know more so we obliged.

Not only were the tweens asking questions but they were learning to stand up for themselves and not "conform" with the crowd. It is easy to fall witness and be a follower. But these kids learned today that it is good to stand up for what you believe in, don't just be a follower, and do the right thing. This was all in an hour of Sunday School. I stand in amazement at what they took out of the one hour and what I learned they know already.

It is amazing at how much fourth and fifth graders know!!!