Oh...it's March break... a welcome week to weary children.
I have one of them.
My fun loving, contagious, spirited child, does NOT like to go to school. My personal opinion is that her teacher is not properly fitted for a classfull of 4 year olds. Still, we wake up every morning, put on a good face, and brave the halls of school. Some days it takes all I have to watch her walk away onto the playground. I come home blurry eyed much too often. ( I know there are many options for us, but we really felt that we were to stick this year out. We prayed hard making sure we were making the right choice in schools, and believe that she is where she is to be....)
On a recent interview with the teacher, she expressed concerns that Hannah wanted to colour everything in rainbow colours.
"For instance," she says, "take this frog. It should be green. She wanted to colour it a multitude of colours. We need to teach her to use one colour only."
Well, the human in me wanted to punch the lady right there.. (can you picture this?? Me, just hauling off and decking this lady!!) But I refrained, cause, well, a cop was sitting beside me.
"Hannah really likes colours, and I don't see the problem with her colouring it whatever colour she wants." I said
"Yes, but frogs are green, and we need to colour them properly."
I thought this was ridiculous, but also knew this was the ladys first year, and she was getting alot of slack already. My grace kicked in this once, and I let it pass--for now.
Wednesday night I reminded Hannah of what the teacher said.
"Hannah honey, Ms. A says that you colour your pictures in rainbow colours. Like the frog."
"Yeah."
"Do you know what colour a frog should be?"
"MOM..green."
"Okay, well I was just wondering why you were colouring in lots of colours and not just one.?"
"Because I like colours mama. Pink, purple, blue, red...I like them all!!"
"Okay."
A moment passed.
"Plus mama. Do you know what a rainbow is?"
"Yes, I do. Do you?"
"Yeah. It means trust. That God keeps his promises."
A tear rolled down my cheek. Ofcourse it would take a 4 year old to point out, that in the midst of maybe the most painful time of her day, during which she is somewhere she does not want to be, a place where she wonders why she has to go at all, she colours her picture in a reminder that GOD KEEPS HIS PROMISES.
I am sure God blesses us with children to remind us of his love, and to teach us much more than we know.
"The Lord is faithful to all his promises..." Psalm 145:13
8 comments:
Amy
I have to say, I am not sure the "COP" would have restrained me so well.
Is this woman trying to destroy a class of 4 year old imaginations! Sorry, people being stupid when it comes to kids gets me a LITTLE riled up! Not that I am saying she is stupid...
I am glad God gave you the grace, and maybe the Hannahs of her class will teach her the truth about life in living color....and the promises that go with them.
Bless you and Hannah during this difficult time....my Michael had a VERY difficult transition into school... so I know how hard this is on you both.
Keep trusting in His promises...and I will pray that the teacher will begin to see life through the eyes of a child....my daycare years did that for me....and I never want to go back to seeing through adult ones! ; )
Jen
I think that it is wonderful that the teacher's opinion did not sway Hannah. It can be difficult to send our little 'lights' into places that need them. It seems that this teacher may need Hannah more than she needs her. I pray that Hannah's light shines very brightly in that classroom. God bless her.
Amy,
Oh my! Shaun and I both read this post. I think Rhonda touched on something. The teacher needs Hannah...not the other way around. I will be praying for the teacher that she will see more the way Hannah does. And I will pray for Hannah that God will bless and protect her. Praying for you too!
By the way...frogs are MANY other colours than green (Sorry teacher!)...God is creative and Hannah is too!
Holly
My heart goes out to you and Hannah...God help the teacher if Jen and I get a hold of her.... we don't plan on having a cop next to us!!
In grade one Amanda was refusing to go, crying and telling me she was terrified of the teacher. I spoke with the teacher, I didn't point my finger at her but just shared my dilemma and enlisted her help. It worked – although she never became Amanda’s favorite teacher - the fear aspect was gone and the teacher co-operated with my request.
I wonder if this teacher is soooooo focused on accomplishing the board requirements, that the children’s emotional well-being has never entered her thoughts? Hannah is not familiar with being put in a box to “meet the standards of a board", so this will pose some challenges.
I suspect this is bigger than just your family; perhaps other children are also struggling. I will be praying for you and Mike to have wisdom in what to do or not do.
(We sent one of our children to J.K. only part time as we felt this was simple best for our family.)
Shari
P.S. Check out Holly's Blog - she's posted a "rainbow of frogs"!
OH my gosh! This is a tear jerker. You go Hannah!
You might as well accept the fact that all your kids will always go outside of the box.
Hannah's parents are extremely unique and creative, and the world needs more people like that.
I learned more from Hannah's daddy than most people, and he taught me how to value creative, out-side the box thinkers. To remind me of how valuable creative thinkers are - I have a photo of him and Hannah on the stage, that I see every day!
I'm keeping this story to use when we speak elsewhere. (If that's OK?)
Amy,
Thanks for getting me to read this one....That is so fantastic!
Well done for keeping Your cool with the teacher....it would be a fun storey for a Christian Magazine!
Bless Ya Sweetie!
Tamar
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