Friday 17 May 2013

The Parenting Files: Peers and Challenging Behaviours

My son come home yesterday spouting comments along the lines of "I'm never going back to school", and "I'm leaving and going to another school".  Apparently he is having friendship issues again.  Apparently I need to email his teacher about it.  Again.

The problem is that he is not completely innocent in the friendship issues.  He does things that annoy the others.  I know exactly what it is that he does that annoys the other kids.  I've seen it.  They've told me.  Last night we had a long discussion about being honest with ourselves because aren't usually mean just for the sake of it.  Not a whole class!  That doesn't excuse their behaviour or make it OK, but you do reap what you sew.

He wasn't happy to hear that he needed to own some of the cause for being teased or for the kids being mean.  I know those kids very well - mostly they're really lovely kids.  So I sent Mr Busy off with Matthew 5 and Psalm 37 in his new Bible, received for his 13th birthday.  When he came back to me he'd read some of the comments in the margins.  Quest Bibles have great information for younger people or new Christians.  Then we talked about the kinds of behaviours God wants us to engage in, and how God won't prevent the consequences of bad choices.  We also talked about how God wants to bless us and how choosing His ways and the behaviours He says are good can be the pathway to receiving the blessings God has promised.

We talked a lot about being meek. 

We looked it up. 

Gentle, kind, humble, courteous, patient.

Hopefully he'll switch his brain on before he says or does things today.  Thirteen year old boys don't seem to think much before they act.  Who said boys were easier?  I reckon the girls were much simpler at this age.  And much more sensible.

Wednesday 15 May 2013

Updates Of All Kinds

Lots of updates for you today.....

I am still healthy.  I am surrounded by little people with snotty noses and God is good.  I started to get a sore throat the other day.  More praying.  More ease-a-cold.  I'm tellin' ya folks, if you're the praying kind and aren't opposed to natural cold and flu stuff this is working out to be a good prevention recipe!  It could also be that God just know I can't take any days off because I would find it so difficult to make them up later. 

The daily devotional thing is still going.  I've missed a day or two with the change in routine that has come about from being at a different school.  But I am enjoying thinking about those Bible passages from the perspective of "what did I learn?" and "what will I do?"  I don't even read the blub in the booklet.

Teaching rounds are going so well.  The teacher I'm working with is an amazing person to work alongside and to learn from.  She lets me experience my own inexperience and then provides me with really helpful and meaningful feedback that I am able to implement the next time I'm teaching. 

Amongst all of that I'm trying to write an assignment.  Ugh.  I miss my day off!

Saturday 4 May 2013

Baking Day and Colds


A few weeks back when I last trekked over to Costco I bought a 2kg bucket of Greek yoghurt.  I enjoy it with a little drizzle of maple syrup for breakfast some mornings, when I'm bored of egg on toast and it was the same price as a 1kg tub.  Apparently I don't enjoy it quite as much as the quantity required of me by the use-by date.  Two kilos is a lot of yoghurt!

So what to do with about 1/2 a kilo of yoghurt that has officially gone past its use-by?  My answer is CAKE!  One gluten free, one regular and both containing yoghurt so that nothing was wasted.  The timing was doubly perfect as we're off on a family picnic tomorrow.  Now my mission is to convince everyone they don't need icing.  Dh and the girls have all got/had colds this week.  Sugar always makes the symptoms worse so I have a bit of a job on my hands!

And on the subject of colds, I have decided that even though there are more cold/flu germs in our house right now than could sink a ship I will be not be getting sick.  I begin teaching rounds again on Monday and have to make days up if I take time off.  I'm not doing it....it's decided.  Just to make sure I'm taking ease-a-cold tablets to get ahead of any germs. And eating chicken soup.  And praying lots because God is the one who insisted I do this degree.  So far I'm fine.