“How the Child Thinks and the Way the Teacher Reacts” – Part 1

To bring up a child in the way he should go, travel that way yourself once in a while. ~Josh Billings
Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. ~Robert Fulghum

This topic: “How the Child Thinks and the Way the Teacher Reacts” concerns the child using their key emotions: patience, love, anger, rudeness, self-seeking and being too proud versus how the teacher reacts to these key emotions needed in the child’s overall education. We know the damaging statistics of children being victims of abuse, killed, mistreated at home, neglected, missing, hounded by predators, etc. Those statistics are alarming when you see:

-Over 3 million children being victims of abuse and they are ONLY the ones that are reported.
-It is estimated that 3 times the number of child abuse reports are actual child abuse victims.
-Over 98,000 of those 3 million plus victims are treated just for sexual abuse.
-Children who have witnessed abuse or been abused themselves are six times more likely to abuse a spouse or child when they become adults.
-Child abuse kills more than 3 children in America everyday.
-Estimates indicate that as many as 5,000 children die each year as a result of mistreatment and abuse from parents or guardians.
-The FBI estimates 2,300 children are reported missing everyday.

You realize that the child who enters your school, perhaps, could be a victim of these statistics and maybe experienced and learned anger, impatience, or even seeing things in the home that we as teachers do not know anything about. These children along with today’s many cultures arrive at your school to be educated. You, as their teacher, have to do your best to teach and guide these children of tomorrow. You are truly the key to get them ready and prepare them to be successful for the future and to make them positive members of society. You are meant to guide and change their misbehaviors, emotions, and characteristics. You must start from day one to understand each child and to deal with these children effectively and help give them new direction in their lives.

We will search for some answers and view both sides of the picture on the necessary key characteristics and emotions needed for change.

Remember, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child, When I became a man or woman, I put childish ways behind me.” (1 Cor. 13:11) Do you remember your childhood days? What were they like? Then you did talk and think like a child. Now as an adult and experienced, you still have to talk and think on a child’s way of thinking in order to teach and share. It’s not an easy job these days!

Next week, we began with PATIENCE!