Kindness with a side of Donuts

Earlier I tweeted a video from CBS Sunday morning about a person who decided to spend the last two years of his life empowering children to do good.  As I understand it, it all began with his desire to take a Krispy Kreme donut truck and go to a school and just give away donuts.  It grew into grants that children could apply for to fund projects and ideas they could come up with to help others. Wow!

What a great story.  I decided to share it because I think we need more good news.  I think that we are better than what the news tells us we are.  I know that we need to be informed about things that are going on.  I realize that the news can't be all about good.  There are horrible, awful things going on in the world that we need to be aware of.  But, do we really need to go on and on about bad behavior.   It's like that old adage that as a teacher I have heard time and time again:  Children will get your attention.  And, if you don't give them regular attention and encourage them to be good, they will get your attention with bad behavior so that you have no choice but to pay attention to them.  I'm beginning to think there is not a age limit for this.

Our children will look at us when they are overwhelmed by a situation.  We have choices to make when this happens.  We can calmly assess the situation and figure out if their need for our attention is because they truly need us to help or they just need acknowledgment from us.  Or, we can overreact and feed into a common condition with today's youth, the need to be rescued.  Problem solving is an important skill.

I just finished the book Wonder by RJ Palacio with my 5th grade class.  Auggie shows a lot of tenacity.  Sometimes he struggles with problem solving, but luckily he has a lot of help from friends and family.  As the theme of the book goes, I encouraged my students to show kindness to each other.  My goal is to show kindness this week and always.  I hope I get it right.

Sunday School Conversations and Rick Bragg

This has been a great weekend.  Several things happened to make that so.    First of all my youngest son took about a minute, 15 seconds, off his personal best in the high school cross country meet he ran in.  And, in that same day, my other son came home for a visit.  He’s busy in college and it’s a rarity that he just drives home for an afternoon.  I’m so glad he did!

Second,  my youngest  was the only one in Sunday School class this weekend.  Normally, I wouldn’t say this is a good thing because of course we all want all of our young ones to be in Sunday school class, especially once they become teenagers.  However, it was just he and I (the teacher… don’t you wish your mom was your Sunday school teacher… nope!)  Anyway, the lesson was about Satan’s influence on our lives.  The lesson began by telling how that Satan was one of God’s leading angels and then he decided to take on God and, of course, he lost the battle and was cast out of Heaven, and so on.   We talked about his and the Garden of Eden and Eve’s choice  and how the apple was not the problem, disobedience was the problem.  I took a moment to say to him that even though he is not perfect and does sometimes makes mistakes, he take the advice his father and I give and does better.  

He’s getting ready to go to college and that’s a scary thing for me.  I know that just like the other two, he is so wanting to make the world a fair and better place that I worry he will not always see the danger that lies just ahead.  I hope that over the next two years,  I can have time to instill in him things to look for and be wary of.  I keep telling myself, my other two children have navigated moving away from my watchful eye successfully, I have no need to worry about him.

Finally, the third thing … I introduced him to Rick Bragg’s essays on the last page of Southern Living magazine.    We had a conversation about how my fantasy of the South is usually about plantation homes and football tailgates with lots of friends and lazy Sunday drives with the top down.  I explained to him that I know that is not the true version of the South.  It’s quite a bit more complicated than that.  But, I like my fantasy.  Living in Southern Missouri I realize I’m not a true Southerner… I only play one in my head.  The thing I like about Rick Bragg is that his essays mix my version and the real version effortlessly.   So before you look at all the wonderful decor and recipes in that magazine, be sure you read the last page.

I’m going to have to fit more of these conversations with my youngest in during the next two years.  Or, maybe I’ll do what I have threatened with the other two and just go off to college with him.  Think he’d go for that?