DAY END QUIET TIME

Day End Quiet Time

I have been thinking of a particular child in my care recently, and that she openly rebels against me. She is not the only one that acts out , but yesterday, her choices were particularly bothering to me.

Historically, "classroom management" has been difficult for me. I think here about three  changes that I will make:
     First, I will interact with the children myself when they need to be stopped, "called out", or redirected at times when I am  one of three teachers in the class, instead of walking the child to the lead teacher for the lead teacher to correct the child. (In the past, I've been doing the latter considering that it is more respectful to the lead teacher and reinforces the teacher's authority. However, now, I think I need to create in the children a sense of my own authority as their teacher.) Also, at home I need to experiment with different voices to express authority and seriousness without sounding too angry, stressed or severe.
     Second, I will really make great effort to express to each child my great love and affection for each one. The child care training authority, Maryln Appelbaum, and others often say you can not care for children properly until they know that you care for them with your heart, too. (The actual quote is much better than that.)
I think that in the past, I have tried to tone down my affection to the children when they have graduated to next level so each one can bond with the teachers of the next class. But now that I put that down in words, I see how not correct that is. That's not good at all! So I will change that.
     Third, I will have something at the end of the day that the children can look forward to that is pleasant. In the case of the dear one who irritated me so, yesterday, i think she gets angry and uncooperative because she is bored and resentful of being at school so long - and physically tired, too.

The thought that first came to my mind is that I used to have some videos of the tv series THE WALTONS. Those would be good. That would be an expression of what I think relaxing at the end of the day should be. That content, in particular, instead of the content that another has quickly chosen because it is bright and animated, I would definitely want to try for the end of the day. If it turns out that I gave that WALTON collection away, I would consider purchasing something else for that purpose/ time. (That would be my "stamp" , my particular choice of what to offer the children at that time.) I will also consider doing another pleasant teaching or activity at the end of the day -that is my own.  But I think that first, I want to use the "TV" to calm and relax the children in that time slot from 5 to 6pm. (I'm a little shocked that I am considering using TV in childcare, but I really think it might be appropriate for this. I will pray and ponder this.) Other relaxing, special end of the day activities that I/ we have used in the past that have been successful are: play dough, "cleaning" with wipes, puzzles (tho' the puzzles that are out there presently are too familiar and easy for the children , maybe). How about shaving cream? Another building set? There used to be one that they really enjoyed playing with. Also, I will talk to other teachers about this specifically. Currently, with added health precautions due to the pandemic, some things are not possible. But, some are, praise the Lord!

    

QUIET REBEL

Quiet rebel

This post is about what rebellion can be.

We usually think of rebellion as angry, strident, vigorous refusal to obey, accept limits; and disrespect of those in authority over us. However, I was  thinking recently about what rebellion can also be:
I remember being in my 20's and articulating to myself, in my mind, "I know better" than those who made up whatever rule it was that I thought I didn't need to follow. Actually, I really think my culture (middle class  America in the 1970's; and specifically the United Methodist Church?) influenced me to think that way. Thought leaders of that era were saying that the Bible was an ancient book that had rules that applied to people back in those days, but that some of those rules were not necessary now, so we didn't have to obey those rules. It is really sad that my church did not see the problem with the attitudes of the popular culture, and formulate a way to teach that God's word is special and life-giving. Everlasting. (I went off course there, at the end; but that IS past of what happened in the Methodist Church.

When I say that, I can see how I came up with the attitude that "I know better".

What I want to say is that people with the " I know better" attitude are not considered "rebellious" and would even be insulted if someone called them that. However, I'm just saying ...

PREPARATION

Preparation

Many people are dying from Covid-19 during this season, and during the pandemic. Death is part of life. This pandemic is different because it is unknown; and because it makes us feel responsible for others. We are all tense, and are all, at least through end of April, hearing about the horrors of the bad cases of covid-19 and of the overwhelmed and anxious workers having to deal with the Ill or with the stress of unknown about being infected and /or infecting others, especially loved ones, and long hours.  Also, we are  stressed because other nations are experiencing a nightmare; and we expect expect that we, too, will go  through that. Our minds are so filled with those thoughts that the thoughts that God wants us to think and the things He wants us to do are totally squeezed out of our minds and lives.

What would God want us to do if we are getting sick and suspect that it is covid-19 and that we might die soon, and that we will be made unconscious and no longer an active agent of earth even sooner that that, very shortly, in fact?

I think God would want us to express thanks towards Him that He made us and this Earth. I think God would want us to humbly receive His gift of eternal life by humbly acknowledging Him and His right to judge us and our lives as He wants, since He is the Creator and we are His creation, both individually and as this whole universe.

So please, my friends,  be ready. Please speak to our Creator and "walk humbly with your God". Receive Jesus (Yeshua is Jesus' true name, Hebrew name. Yeshua, which means Yahweh, the God introduced and followed by the Jewish people and told about in the Bible,-this same Yahweh saves. Yeshua saves ALL.)

And dear friend, if and when  you know our Lord and Savior, Our Creator, Jesus, please include some words about your faith in Him to those around you in that short window of opportunity that you may have. And speak to the air if you must, if no one's there that you can see. (Remember God is there!) Or if those around you are so intent on trying to save your life or keep from getting sick themselves that they aren't listening, just say something good to God, while you're here in Earth.

Dear ones, please think about this ahead of time so you will be ready when your time comes. Love to you.

RESPONSE TO . . . CAVEATS

Response to . . . Caveats

In that other post, I expressed that we need to warn those who come after us- either in reading a book after us or in whatever other way you might encounter- when we have come to the understanding in the midst of reading the book that we disagree with some of what has been established in that book by the author and publisher. We owe it to a subsequent reader to warn them (especially if they are young) of (what we believe to be) an untruth and/or unhelpful direction that the author (with the support of the publisher) has proposed.

This post is slightly different. The theme that connects these two posts is the principle of carefully observing and analyzing a new proposition rather than accepting it as OK or wonderful or having received a cultural stamp of approval because it's been published. (Also, I'm sorry folks, but I DO have to include here the truth that just because something has been accepted and promoted by the culture does not mean that that something is in agreement with what our Creator God wants for us.)

Anyway, this post is simply about the time a magazine came into the house with a large photo of someone's face on the cover who had painted their face or agreed to being painted, including goulish contact lenses for Halloween themed "fun" -this was on the front cover! As a mother, wife and homemaker, I took the initiative to paint over that pic to make it less horrific. I am sure I censored pics in like manner on other occasions. I think that is GOOD! not bad! Why should someone who happens to have the backing of a publisher or other with money- why should that one have more influence over my children and household than I do? That's all I have to say right now. Bless you, friends.

FROZEN

Frozen

I originally thought about this 25 or so years ago. The "frozen" I mention is the concept of "the chilling effect" taken to MORE of an extreme. The original "chilling effect" I noted was Stephen King's (book and) movie CARRIE. In that movie, the mother was not loving, and saw the world around her, including her daughter, Carrie, as evil. The mother was portrayed as cold and unloving; and her religious beliefs (nominally Christian) were part of what made her so cold and unloving.
That portrayal which equated Christian religious zeal with an ignorant inflexibility which made the mother a failure as a parent (cold and unloving) -that portrayal, in my opinion, inhibited some people (such as myself?) from trying to raise their children by strong religious standards, for fear that they would be thought of by their children and onlookers as cold and unloving.
Now 30 plus years later, that distorted image of devoted Christians has persisted and maybe become even more exaggerated.
However, I may be wrong, but I think perhaps current (late 2019) views have become so (ridiculously?) exaggerated- championing gender identity rights and right to whatever "sexual  lifestyle" one feels drawn to as well as insistence that those values be accepted as normal by all members of society- that some people now are starting to see that that extreme view is not really intellectually honest.
Just today, I read Wei-huan Chen's (of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE, Nov 29, 2019, maybe) review of BABY  SCREAMS MIRACLE , the play by Barron. I was thankful for Chen's thoughtful review, considering the possibility that Christians could seriously and truly look to our God and the standards and guidance put forth in His Bible and try to live their lives that way with loving others as part of that.

THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF CARE AND CAUTION

The right amount of caution:
My father being an electrical engineer caused me to consider what engineering means. I learned that you have to make sure the material and the construction create a finished item that can withstand the use it will be put to. (Sorry for stilted wording.) I don't know if Dad told me this, but I have the thought from very young of the testing of material and the prototypes, planes and wings, etc vibrating in wind  tunnels in flight speed conditions for testing.
Also, my father-in-law was a bricklaying  contractor and builder; and my husband told of Papaw's regular decision to do his work extremely well using very strongly formulated mortar, wetting the bricks before starting and otherwise doing the BEST work (and organizing the work and leading his employees in this, also.)
I even remember fussing at my son when he was a child and playing too hard with a toy one time, telling him "you don't have to break a toy (or other) to find out how strong it is or is not."  Actually, I guess I was also influenced by working for a foundation engineering company, testing  samples for strength by putting them under a load and recording how much load that sample could carry before it would fail and noting that after sample started to break, it could never be as strong as before, unless it had no original cohesion to begin with.
I compare my father-in-law's building ethics to the business decisions that were made concerning the crucial parts of the monstrous offshore oil platform (Deep water Horizon) and drilling machines that failed in 2010 causing ** deaths and the ruination of a large area of Gulf of Mexico and the  Gulf coast.  Who all were the decision makers? Are there still trials going on? Do those ones yet realize that they made bad (sinful, even) decisions that caused the catastrophe? What was the risk that they decided was ok that turned out to not be ok? Why did they think it was ok to make the decision they did? I guess they never thought that they would encounter a situ where blowout preventers would be needed. Was that realistic? I think I heard that one aspect of that catastrophe was that the drilling mud was not heavy enough. Was that a combination of two or more mistakes (or sinful decisions) that did not take into account that other imperfections would make the whole array totally insufficient?
So now I think about secret poor decisions. The people  responsible for choosing those insufficient blowout preventers, or the people who manufactured, misrepresented and sold them thought their decision would remain a secret. They thought it would be ok.