While most of our days at Happy Home have been filled with smiles, giggles and fun, they’ve not all been so sunny. The day that we got the new playground equipment (not really “new”, but new to Happy Home), the kids went wild! Enjoyment and pure adrenaline were in the air as everyone tried out the new slide. Young and old were amazed and tried it over and over and over again. Some were getting in a few more turns though as they just bullied their way through or climbed over and on top of the younger and smaller kids. A few times I called them out on it. “Wait your turn…Be careful… Back of the line…” I found that talking doesn’t really do much, especially with something as exciting as a new slide in the foreground. So I took a different approach. The cutters were pulled off of the slide and made to go to the back of the line. A few times and one boy, Mazbulla, gets the picture. He now looks at me and goes straight to the back of the line, still smiling and squealing with enjoyment as he slides down. He gets a high five and a “good job!” from me as I encourage him in following the rules. Good, he understands.
Me and Mazbulla after class one day
Still, his friend doesn’t get it. He thinks he’s cute…smiling when I say no. Laughing when I tell him to wait his turn. Well, I’ll try a time out and see what happens. I sit him down in full view of the slide and explain that he must sit still for 5 whole minutes. I’ve got the timer on my watch. “No!” I tell him. He sits and has a laughing smirk for the first 2 minutes. It’s still a game. He tries to get up…nope, that’s another 2 minutes! By the time 7 minutes is up he’s fake crying in the corner and even refusing to slide again. I hated the process, but tried to stay firm to the end. When the time was up I explained to him why he was punished and told him that it wasn’t fair or safe for the other children if he was allowed to break the rules. If he did it again, he’d be back in timeout. Later the next day I saw him and made sure to say hello and smile. He responded and the slide was a bit safer as well because he now made an effort to go around.
Playing on the slide 🙂
Aside from playground duty, Stephanie and I have been filling in and teaching some classes during the day. We were asked to teach “Values” and the lesson was on Respect. Class 3 went extremely well. We had diagrams, lists, examples and skits. We made up a class rules sheet and signed it. We even got to play hangman at the end for a few minutes!
We thought we were in Class 2 next then the word came, “We need you to teach Class 1 until lunch.” Class 1?! Are you sure?! Our guys have nicknamed that classroom “The Octagon” in reference to MMA fighting. These kids are wild! But hey, we’re here to serve right? We went in and got to work. They were a bit rowdy, but wanted to sing “Jesus loves me” and the “I’ve got joy like a fountain” song. We said ok, and it went well. When we started into the respect portion it turned to pure chaos. Steph drew three circles on the board and told them we’d play a game at the end if the circles weren’t crossed out because of noise. It didn’t faze them and the circles were completely marked out by the end of 20 minutes.
We did manage to get 4 rules written on the board. Mainly about listening to your teacher, respecting your classmates and raising your hand to talk. That last one is a completely foreign concept as often the answers are just screamed out. Anyway, chaos continues and paper airplanes fly, so Stephanie tells them to get out paper to write sentences. This in itself was a task. “Auntie, I don’t have paper. Auntie, I don’t have pencil. Auntie, he took my crayon….Auntie, Auntie, Auntie!” Enough! Have some paper, we’ll get you pencils…now sit down and write your rules! Three times each….GO! What should’ve taken 15-20 minutes took about an hour. It was like pulling teeth, especially with two of the kids.
One boy in particular just kept smiling and laughing, putting his book away or hiding his pencil. He made me downright livid, but later I thought…I really need to pray for him. I’m still mad and he’s still being a butt, but he does need some prayer. Later, Steph prayed with me for the kids, that they would understand their punishment and do better. Usually the other teachers just smack them or grab their ears or threaten them with a beating. We obviously didn’t want to do that, but we don’t love them if we let them off the hook. Since the sentences didn’t work we also told them they were to read silently until lunch. I’m telling you, these kids just wouldn’t stop! As a last resort, we told them they were to wait five minutes after the bell for lunch and if anyone else talked it would be an extra minute for him alone. Steph and I held out, we were supposed to go to lunch at 12:15 and didn’t actually get any til 2:30. The bell rang and the kids bolted, but we bolted the door and told them to sit! That’s when it finally hit. Shock…remorse…sadness. After 9 minutes and a one-on-one chat with Mr. Smartypants, all the kids were finally gone. I have never felt so emotionally drained in my life. Nor have I felt such love for parents. Discipline. What a chore! It’s not fun or easy or enjoyable in any way for either party.
As our one lead troublemaker was mocking me, asking to go to the bathroom, and continually promising that he would write his sentences (but never actually moving his pencil), I had an epiphany. I saw myself as that little boy as I was talking to God. “I promise Lord, I do love you. I won’t do it again. I’ll do better next time.” I keep promising things to the Lord, keep telling him I love him, but failing to keep my word. How am I supposed to fall more and more in love with Him if I don’t consistently pray or read my Bible? When I say things and don’t follow through, not only does it hurt me but it disappoints him. My sin grieves the heart of the Living God. I was upset with the student for not listening, but it was more disappointing than anything because I know he is able to do what he is asked to.
It’s like the story of Noah. Genesis 6:5-6 reads, “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.” I think people miss that. God “disciplined” the earth…he destroyed the people for their behavior, but their actions grieved the heart of God.
I have an entirely new blog floating around in my mind about how the Lord disciplines those he loves, how his commands are for our benefit and how the law to love Him with everything is the best for us…but this is getting rather long. Sometimes we just have to learn tough lessons. For me it was tough to punish the children, but I saw the Lord in it. I’m so thankful that he continues to teach me, even on days where I could really use a chocolate bar and a hot bath.
