Spirituality and Children: For the Fun of It
Maybe this one’s for children at least as much as it’s about them…
News Flash from School
Mariella touched her brush a bit
On Alec’s project.
It was an accident.
“Hey!
You got some yellow on my marshmallow!”
He bellowed.
“Alec – Shush!” said Mr. Lund.
Oh yeah, thought Alec,
That marshmallow was going to be the sun…
***
Friday it was Alec’s turn
To lead the line at lunch,
But he found Peter at the door.
“You cheater, Peter!”
So he pulled Peter’s sweater
And it tore.
Alec cried until his eyes burned.
That was when he looked up at the board and learned,
“Today is Thursday…”
***
“Class,” asked Mr. Lund,
“Does anybody know
Which president came first?”
“Sure,” said Alec,
Of course it was George Wershington.”
“That’s ‘Washington,’ said Valerie from out in back.
Then Alec clamored fiercely:
“I hate it when you interrupt me!
That Valerie! She always interrupts me!
I hate-hate-hate that! Take it back!
Valerie, you smarty-pants!”
With every word he stamp-stamp-stamped,
Until he tumbled from his seat
And bumped his bum
While all the other kids hilariously laughed.
And even though his bum was numb,
It’s like a light bulb flashed in Alec’s mind,
And even Alec couldn’t help but smile.
“I’m sorry guys…
I think I might have interrupted Mr. Lund!”
Paul Martin
Off-Topic Addendum
"'Whose religion is best?' strikes me as a question antithetical to religion at its best."
I, uh, liked this quotation from myself from someone else's comment thread so much that I thought I'd quote me. All rights reserved?
News Flash from School
Mariella touched her brush a bit
On Alec’s project.
It was an accident.
“Hey!
You got some yellow on my marshmallow!”
He bellowed.
“Alec – Shush!” said Mr. Lund.
Oh yeah, thought Alec,
That marshmallow was going to be the sun…
***
Friday it was Alec’s turn
To lead the line at lunch,
But he found Peter at the door.
“You cheater, Peter!”
So he pulled Peter’s sweater
And it tore.
Alec cried until his eyes burned.
That was when he looked up at the board and learned,
“Today is Thursday…”
***
“Class,” asked Mr. Lund,
“Does anybody know
Which president came first?”
“Sure,” said Alec,
Of course it was George Wershington.”
“That’s ‘Washington,’ said Valerie from out in back.
Then Alec clamored fiercely:
“I hate it when you interrupt me!
That Valerie! She always interrupts me!
I hate-hate-hate that! Take it back!
Valerie, you smarty-pants!”
With every word he stamp-stamp-stamped,
Until he tumbled from his seat
And bumped his bum
While all the other kids hilariously laughed.
And even though his bum was numb,
It’s like a light bulb flashed in Alec’s mind,
And even Alec couldn’t help but smile.
“I’m sorry guys…
I think I might have interrupted Mr. Lund!”
Paul Martin
Off-Topic Addendum
"'Whose religion is best?' strikes me as a question antithetical to religion at its best."
I, uh, liked this quotation from myself from someone else's comment thread so much that I thought I'd quote me. All rights reserved?
Posted by Paul at 11:48 AM Permalink
14 Comments:
Your children's poem is delightful and so very realistic. You must have a lot of contact with children to be that good at it.
PEACECHICK: You're right on about the realism. The poem is based on things I've seen and heard from children - only minor details were changed/rearranged.
BAD ALICE: Oh no... evening...
Being single, I used to wonder sometimes how others could go home to elementary age children after working with them all day! I loved my work but did need breaks...
I bought several Elf help books recently for one of my grandchildren who struggles with an anger problem. The topic (anger) is presented in such a way that my grandson, upon reading the book, could not help but laugh.
Since it is my role here to wander obliquely off topic allow me to refresh your memory.
On Saturday night MAD TV had the guts to do a sketch based on SURVIVOR. The tribes consisted of Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Scientologists (led by a jubilant jumping Tom Cruise) who eventually won the competition..the gross characterizations were either hilarious or revolting depending on your personal preferences.
What struck me was that it did expose the reality of competition that exists between the uber religions (both being hijacked by extremists)and unfortuantely this is a race to the finish..and I'm talking FINISH.
If I ever find it on Youtube I'll let you know.
1. I'd "innocently" ask the child what had happened to make him (or her, but usually it was a him) angry. Usually I'd gotten the straight dope ahead of time from the teacher...
2. At the points where I knew or suspected the child was lying I'd feign confusion, e.g. "So you mean that nothing happened before that? Your teacher just started yelling at you for no reason at all? Wow..." The idea was to get the child to admit the facts without butting heads - often I had just calmed the child down from an outburst so the goal was to be non- confrontational while still eliciting the truth from the child.
3. Go back over the whole narrative of what had happened basically using the formula: "OK... So after Mary accidentally got paint on your picture, you yelled at her really loud. And after that your teacher gave you a warning... Can you think of anything you could have done after she got paint on your picture instead of yelling loud in class?"
The idea was to walk the child back through the situation in such a way that he'd recognize that the negative consequences followed from his choices - that at every step along the way to the blowout he'd had other options. This approach gave the same information that I could have conveyed in a preachy or scolding manner, but the child would often tune in instead of tuning out.
HOMO ESCAPEONS: It sure does look like a competive sport sometimes. At the same time, people commenting here have occasionally expressed, in different ways, the idea of "many paths to God." That does beg the question: What about Buddhists, who don't conceive of a Deity - or atheists? Are they the spiritual inferiors of theists? Might make for an interesting topic for a post...
VISHESH: What may make it funnier is that it's pretty much all true! One of a number of things that made this little boy likeable even though he was so frequently having trouble with his temper is that after the event, he was able to distance himself from it enough to laugh at himself or appear genuinely sheepish over his behavior. A bright kid.
JAMES E: A completely useless "talent" of mine is that as a kid in the 60s I involuntarily memorized any number of commercial jingles and TV show theme songs. That picture you posted set me off on Kellogs Corn Flakes because an adulterated version of the painting was featured on one of their commmercials. Oh, and I think I got the closing line wrong - it must have been "Double toasted, extra crisp..."
Thanks for your patience, lol!
N2 and MARISSA: OK, I'll give myself permission. And self-quoting is convenient since you don't need to get it in writing...
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