balance
I need balance. ..
Last night at the Kid’s Corps I was so unbalanced, and then so were the kids. I go from getting them wound up and excited to expecting them to sit quietly. How do I model a life that’s present in the moment with control? Can I really sit back and let the consequences of their actions be their teacher? More rules has never been the acceptable solution for me. I want as few limitations as possible, they hear the word”no” too often. I love their enthusiasm, but it’s without self discipline. Self discipline….how do I ever get elementary school kids to think of that? But if this kids thing is going to keep growing, I need to find some answers…ways to help them want to control themselves (not be controlled), ways to help them want to evolve into kids for Christ (not to fit an adult’s mold), ways to help them want to make small changes that will keep them moving forward ( not remake them into any image I have of that sweet little Christian kid), and most of all ways to strengthen them for what lies ahead. Most of them live lives I can’t even imagine… horrible family situations, very poor, drugs, porn, and more. My heart breaks for them; I know that’s where it starts, but where do I go from here?
September 18th, 2004 at 1:08 am
Perhaps this is not fitting to the situation, but one thing that everyone craves, adults and children alike, is to have some assemblence of control over their lives. And one way to do that is to give the kids options. Yes, the options should be fitting to what you’re trying to teach them and fit into your scheme, but by giving them options you let them choose. For example, the kids could have the option of either sitting and listening to a bible story and eating a snack, or they could work on a craft related to a Bible story and you could expain how that fits. Again, I don’t know the entire situation or how Kid’s Corps work. But, what I’ve always learned in Social Work classes, which I believe applies to people all around us, regardless of age, race, or sex, is that we want control. Especially people that come out of bad situations, like the family situations you were describing of the kids. They need to have some sort of control over their life, becuase at home, nothing is stable. And, for them, it might be making the choice to either sit down and listen to you, or go crazy. Maybe, by offering them other options you not only get them to settle down, but to also be able to have excersized their freedom of choice. Just some thoughts, not sure if they’re at all helpfull…..
September 21st, 2004 at 9:12 am
I guess right now, I don’t have the help or room to allow many large chices, but I’m able to allow small choices, and I don’t always. I remember for my own sons, I made sure they had to make choices…small at the start, but more and bigger as they grew up. How quickly I forget. Thanks for the reminder.