You know, I am teaching online. Today, a mother asked me, if I could speak to her son because he was not listening to her and doing his classwork.

At first, I thought to myself, if you are his mom and you are in the house with him, what do you expect me, his online teacher to do?

I realized, that I was being selfish and having sinful thoughts. God said to me make this a teachable moment.

I called my student’s name. He answered. I said what is going on? He answered Mrs. C., I am bored. I asked, why are you bored? He answered I keep doing the same thing over and over every day. I stay in the house all day.

Wow, it must have taken a great deal of courage for a 10-year-old to express his emotions that way.

Right away, I understood why Jesus asked us to be as humble as children. As an adult, I find it hard at times to express what I am feeling.
I stopped the entire class and we went into a discussion that I pray will carry him through as well as the rest of us.
Parents begin to join in the discussion. I thank God that I am in a Christian environment so that I can teach others how to lean and depend on Jesus for strength during these troubled times.
Why am I sharing this? Thank you for asking. So many times adults are preoccupied with what they are going through, they forget the children are learning to deal with stress, they are afraid, they look to adults to guide them through life.
Be patient with your children. If they are having a bad day, a tough moment, stop what you are doing and listen to them, support them in their feelings.
I was thankful that I am retired from the public school setting and am able to touch these children’s lives in a positive way, in a Christian School.
God said to me at that moment to start off with a prayer.
I asked my class if they had ever heard of the Serenity Prayer? None had ever heard of it.
I asked them all to repeat after me. We did it together and then, I taught them how to cope with fear, depression, and stress with that simple prayer.
I asked the first Question. I asked what things about our present situation that we cannot change?
Next, I asked, what things about our current situation that we can change?
My final question was how do we know when we cannot change something and who do we seek help from?
It generated a beautiful discussion and at the end of the discussion, I said now take a 15-minute break and just talk to each other, laugh, play a game, and we will resume our lessons at that time.
I had the attention of all of the class and the parents.
Everything works out when we put God first.
I say to all parents listen to their children, know when too much is too much. Educating our children includes teaching them how to weather the storms of life. That is the best part of a good education.
EDUCATORS
Please share your thoughts on this and do not be afraid to tell me how you as an educator or an educational leader would have handled this in your class whether you teach in a secular or Christian School.
We are all in this together and we are helpers one to the other.
#teachablemomentschallenge.