This is why I started to think about the security and safety of all of those children. Yes, I now home school, we are on year two and I will get into why I am homeschooling now a little later on, but for now I want to focus on our public and private schools that our children are sent off to every day. Children spend at least 6 hours a day in a school. This school is spent with their friends learning, not only Mathematics and Reading, but also learning about life and socialization. The children learn to share, to be polite, to be kind to one another and learn to be giving as well. They learn the importance of organization, studying hard, and success. That is only if they are being taught how to do these things.
With the constant teaching of subjects and meeting school criteria so that the school can become or maintain accreditation, somewhere along the line, teaching students about morals and values have been forgotten and/or pushed to take a back seat to learning. Yes, I think it is important to educate our children! Take a minute and look back to when we as adults now went to school, remember what we learned, how we were taught? Now look at the person you are today...you turned out ok didn't you? Our children are learning much much more that we have learned, most elementary school children are taught what we learned in intermediate school. Are our children being pushed too much? Well that's another topic for sure, but what I'd like to say is that in school, children shouldn't be just pushed in learning their "ABC's" they should be taught more on those values and morals that life has pushed aside.
Why do I bring this up? Well our schools, although there are many great teachers out there, are filled with bullies, with fights, with competition against one another, with not caring about fellow classmates, with hate and anger, with contempt, with frustration and lack of patients. There are kids that are disrespectful, they don't have regard for other people and....I hate to say this, but it's a "ME" world that is being created. I have seen first hand of even Elementary school children bullying. Little girls are telling other little girls that they are fat or ugly, they tell other friends not to play with a singled out child. I saw pushing and stepping on the heals of the classmate in front of them. I saw children slap books out of another child's hands. I have seen children push a child off the Monkey Bars, and even seen a few kids chanting "scaredy cat, scaredy cat" to another child who wouldn't jump off the top of the slide. Is this behavior one that should be just acceptable? Ask your school child if they have problems on the school grounds and listen intently as they start telling you about all the things that go on. Do you want your child bullied? I don't think you want to raise a bully that is for sure? But what is the reaction of a child that is being picked on, left alone, talked about, made to feel bad about themselves?
I will tell you. They become the child that feels like they are not loved, they feel sad all the time, unaccepted, alone, dark, and end up quiet and secluded. To put is simply, they have "LIFE" sucked right out of them. I feel such sadness when I see children that have been brought down so low that they can no longer see any light ahead of them.
I feel that when we take the time to lift children up, correct them in their negative behaviors, and encourage positive behavior we see kids that are self confident, caring and loving towards one another. We need to encourage that within our schools! We need to encourage that NOW before things get absolutely worse. There are too many suicides taking place with our children, there are too many dark and ill children willing to shoot others just to feel some sort of revenge or power. How do we do this, how to we change our focus from constant learning of subjects to learning about the hearts and caring of other people?
I am a Christian, I believe in a God that is loving, caring and will be there to guide us through the tough times when we seek Him. I remember the day's of having a prayer time in school. My family wasn't huge "church goers", we actually were considered the CEO of church...Christmas, Easter, Other (like a funeral). Anyway, one thing I now remember was that I was reminded everyday that I went to school that no matter what my parents believed, what was happening at home, what type of religion I was taught or not taught, I got to have a time where I knew that God was in my mind somewhere. Of course I was a child, but yet I remember the boy that was such a bully who would irritate me, and with my Italian/German background it doesn't take me long to tell people how I feel and get my hands going, but this boy who would intentionally throw that red ball at my head almost every day just got to me. My thought was, "boy I'd like to hit him, but I don't think God would like that very much." So I took that time each day in school and prayed that this boy would be nice, that he would be kind to me and although it didn't happen the next day, it did happen. One day he came up to me with that red ball and I thought, "here we go again." He didn't hit me, he actually asked me if I wanted to play dodge ball with the rest of the kids playing. I was shocked, but I took a moment and thanked God that he changed this boy's heart.
Does prayer work? That is a question only you can answer yourself, but I know for me, it does. Again, I wasn't a church goer, we didn't pray at home, all I knew was that we were Christian and even back then, I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but it was part of our school time so I prayed. I prayed for my dog to get better, my dad to be safe at work, to have the boy stop being mean, for my little brother to stop pulling my hair. I pretty much just prayed like kids do.
What do you think would happen if we allowed prayer back into our schools? Do you think that when that one child, that kid that stays to him/herself, that kids that doesn't make eye contact, that dresses in all black has that time to "pray" or "think" or "ponder" of something bigger that when the first thought of ending his/her life, or the possibility of taking another life that "GOD" may come into their mind first? I would like to think with the support of the school and over time we will see some major changes in the school AND more so, the attitudes of our children. I think that kids will start finding a light within themselves that will make them feel good. Make them WANT to make others feel great about themselves.
So how do we do this? Will it even work? Well, we don't know. Like everything else in life, we at least need to try, what else can we do? We have to welcome "God" back into our schools, we need a presence of His love and the ability to talk to Him someplace. There are a lot of children, like myself, that didn't have the opportunity at home. I feel that we should allow that time for any child, with any religion, to have prayer. Over the announcements, a short statement or verse or poem of encouragement should be read. Allow that first negative thought of possible violence to be turned into something other than fulfilling the action. Allow our own children to reach out to those who seem distant, maybe they just need a friend, allow our children to understand that the care of each other is important and necessary in our world today!
This is my first blog and I hope to bring a few ideas and suggestions regarding our children in schools. Like this blog on teaching values, morals, and bringing God back into schools and why that may be important. We will also talk about Armed teachers, guns, teaching our children about gun safety, home schooling, video games, violet movies, mental illnesses, and much more. My only thought with this blog is to make you think about what is really important with our children. Life is so short, and as we all know, but most could not relate, with the recent events in CT life should not be taken away...for anyone much less innocent children! May your family always be safe and may you find that today is a new beginning.
If you found this a thought provoking blog and you feel that prayer should be in schools please sign this great petition at....http://wh.gov/naTY
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