out of the mouth of babes.

so my husband and i teach sunday school every sunday to a group of five-year-olds. two hours of interaction with these cute little humans. two hours of loud noises and runny noses.

it's fun, but it's actually really intimidating. what if they don't like me, not for personal reasons, but because i didn't bring cookies? what if they like my husband better than me? (they totally do. it's because he does this thing where he picks them and their chairs up and moves them to sit around the little table when we color and it's a fun ride to them. i just do not have that kind of muscle.) because the thing about kids is that they don't sugar coat anything. they tell you what they're thinking and they will neither care nor notice how it makes you feel. i am still trying to decide how i feel about that aspect of children.

and let me just say- the option of praying with your eyes closed is a luxury not afforded to sunday school teachers.

things that happen in sunday school on a regular basis:

conversations like this:    
     question -why do we wear shoes?
     child #1 -so we don't step on pokies in the ground!
     child #2 -you might step on a cat and it might claw your feet.
     child #3 -my grandma has a cat!
     child #4 -i have a grandma! but she doesn't have a cat.

things like this:
     maybe you might be trying to teach the kids what it's like to listen to the spirit telling you what to do instead of what the world tells them to do. maybe that involves walking through a maze with a blindfold on, only you can't find a blindfold so instead you just put pillowcases over their heads. only since they're five, maybe the pillowcase falls past their knees. maybe one little girl gets upset because she's scared of the dark. congratulations. you've just terrified an adorable little girl. during sunday school. at church.

situations like this:
     there are twenty minutes left in class. you are out of teaching material. the following ensues: two games of red-light-green-light. one game of simon says. coloring page.

and situations like this:
     maybe you ask who wants to say the closing prayer. maybe all of the kids raise their hands and shout that they want to. so you let them. all of them. five closing prayers. in a row.

observations like this:
     nothing will ever be as cool to a child as the new watch that they got for their birthday. you will feel like a heartless fool if you deny them their request to pass it around the class so that everyone else can see it too. this includes yourself, obviously, and you will feel the need to make a big deal about how cool that watch is so that you can see their little face light up.

but also things like this:
     you walk into class and sit down and the little girl with the pigtails will run up, unexpectedly throw her arms around your neck, kiss you on the cheek, and tell you she loves you.

sometimes these kids make me baby hungry. other times they're a fool proof birth control. 

happy wednesday friends.