Picking up the grandgirls from school, we had headed straight to a dental appointment, and I was catching up on the lives of a 4th- and a 6th-grader as we drove. The conversations always have a lot of giggles interspersed, and the radio wasn't allowed to be turned on, as I wanted to visit with them.
They took their homework into the office to work on while waiting. "Do you know how to do exponents, Gram Gram?" asked the older one. I gulped, feigning bravado.
“Well, let's look," I said. Fortunately, enough math from long ago had remained, and we were able to work on it together. Assignment completed.
"I'm going to need some help, Gram Gram. Will you help me?" questioned the little one.
"I'm going to need some help, Gram Gram. Will you help me?" questioned the little one.
"Of course." She began working, and it was quickly apparent she really needed no help at all. Legs propped up on an ottoman, notebook in her lap, she tackled the assignment, that of renaming numbers in a variety of ways.
As she got to the bottom of the page, she peered up at me. Very quietly, as though she was telling me a secret, she said, "We had a test, and we had to do this same kind of work. When I finished, I wrote a little note to my teacher--'Thank you for teaching me these strategies.' There was some space left on the page so I just wrote it."
To say I was dumbfounded, speechless would be an understatement. What 9-year-old child even thinks that way? This one does, and the beauty of it is that she has no idea how atypical her approach to people and to life is. She's simply being herself. This is who and what she is.
The little pit bull took me to school yesterday. This time it was on the value of expressing appreciation and thanks. But then she schools me often on other aspects of living a virtuous life as well.
Some of life's greatest lessons are learned at the hands of, or from the mouths of, children. Listen, pay attention, give them time and respect, and we are all enriched.
"...and a little child shall lead them." Isaiah 11:6
"I tell you the truth. Unless you turn around and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3
As she got to the bottom of the page, she peered up at me. Very quietly, as though she was telling me a secret, she said, "We had a test, and we had to do this same kind of work. When I finished, I wrote a little note to my teacher--'Thank you for teaching me these strategies.' There was some space left on the page so I just wrote it."
To say I was dumbfounded, speechless would be an understatement. What 9-year-old child even thinks that way? This one does, and the beauty of it is that she has no idea how atypical her approach to people and to life is. She's simply being herself. This is who and what she is.
The little pit bull took me to school yesterday. This time it was on the value of expressing appreciation and thanks. But then she schools me often on other aspects of living a virtuous life as well.
Some of life's greatest lessons are learned at the hands of, or from the mouths of, children. Listen, pay attention, give them time and respect, and we are all enriched.
"...and a little child shall lead them." Isaiah 11:6
"I tell you the truth. Unless you turn around and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3
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