So, the shoe has dropped. I now am on the opposite side of what I remember as a child – I am now the teacher and my daughters are now in a class I offer them and their friends, about spiritual concepts.
It’s interesting. It’s been a challenge. It has been a joy. It has been a growth experience – did I mention it has been a challenge? 🙂
I have learned to steel my resolve and I have looked in the mirror. I should actually remind myself to do that more often 🙂 I remember thinking when I was a child, why did I feel most picked on, by my mom when she was teaching me, when other kids were doing the same- I now see, I probably did then as well… but was blinded by the injustice, I felt 😉 I now know for sure, you always want your child on best behaviour, as in your mind, this dictates the behaviour of the rest of their peers. However, I should remind myself to be more gracious, let her feel at ease. 🙂
It’s been awesome to be part of the class, to hear the children have conversations with each other about important subjects like justice, and truthfulness. To watch them learn to work together, play together, help each other be better. That’s the best.
Although they live in the same neighbourhood, they come from different backgrounds (ethnicity, family dynamics, language, behavioural, religious). They are young, some new to the area, some older, and haven’t had a chance to bond outside a lot, but it seems this has helped with that. Also, parents have shared that their children have shared their conversations with them from class, for example “mom we talked about being generous and giving our things away” and it wasn’t conversations that were happening earlier.
I would like to share practically my experiences teaching the class, but am not sure if belongs to this blog space, or if I should start another solely for that purpose.
There are two quotes I need to remind myself about
“Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value, education alone can cause it to reveal its treasure and enable mankind to benefit therefrom.”
and also
“Children are the most precious treasure a community can possess, for in them are the promise and guarantee of the future. They bear the seeds of the character of future society which is largely shaped by what the adults constituting the community do or fail to do with respect to children. They are a trust no community can neglect with impunity. An all-embracing love of children, the manner of treating them, the quality of the attention shown them, the spirit of adult behavior toward them—these are all among the vital aspects of the requisite attitude.”
This is why I hold the class, and why I offer it to a wider group of children than my own.
I hope my efforts are sincere, and helpful. I am thankful for the opportunity.
It has been helpful to go through a training to become a children’s class teacher (Ruhi book 3), the spiritual, the curriculum and practical aspects of teaching a class – so very helpful. It has also been so helpful to look over peoples experiences on how they offered it. I hope to add to that body of knowledge. The internet is amazing for this! I want to pay it forward.
As a parent having my children memorize short verses related to spiritual qualities that calls them to higher behaviour and thinking is the best, and the fact that they just sing it on their own with no prompting. Or instead of me nagging them when they need a reminder to be their higher selves I just have to sing a little song, not to mention it’s a helpful reminder to myself.
It’s good to have a structure of what they are learning, the challenge is making sure that at home we do more learning and not just rely on the curriculum, despite the class being at home. The two should complement each other.
Faith and Children 