Friday, April 16, 2010

Is it possible that I learn more from my kids then they do from me?

My little Wildman Sprout has been leaning more towards the "wildman" then the "sprout" in his 3rd grade year. He is testing the waters, figuring out what might work in this world and finding out, the hard way, that, darn it, life is hard.

My guy is a bit too smart for his own maturity. His little body has not caught up with his brain and all this is trying to wrestle itself out, crammed in a school desk all day.

His loving teachers are constant reminders to me that, sigh, it does indeed take a village to raise a child and they are part of our village.

Instead of coming up with excuses today like, "why should I do homework when I get As in everything?" he took the advice in stride, seemingly understanding that in the real world, we all have to do things we don't want to do or even sometimes see the point of at all and that part of responsibility is sucking it up and being willing to do our best, always, even when it's the last thing we want to do.

And then he wrote us this letter (note: Character grades are given in 7 different areas with 2s and 3s being the lowest and 1s being the highest):
Dear Mommy and Daddy,
I am a new kid now. I have changed very much. I won't lie. I won't be a distraction in class. I will slow down in my work. Everything you said I will do. You will find me getting nonstop 1s on my report card. You will find As on tests. You will find the teacher saying "Cade has been wonderful." All those bad memories are gone. I have a brand new start.

What I learned from this: May I always be as teachable and willing to be molded by God as my son is.

May I: find the eternal treasure in the temporary trial.