Lessons from Kindergarten #2

Things I Learned in Kindergarten...well, actually the title should be "Things I Learned While Working in My Daughter's Kindergarten Class on Friday Afternoons," but honestly, that really doesn't roll off the tongue does it?

Jesus was big on children and believed that they had some special insights about faith. Overlooking the fact that Jesus did not have kids, and thus was spared changing dirty diapers and dealing with a two year old who have just learned the word "no," let assume he was right. I have put my keen intellect to the task and come up with several "insights" about faith that I discovered while working in my daughter's Kindergarten class. Here we go:

#2: It's Not Tattling If I Am the One Doing It
This topic may not seem all that original. If you have spent any time with young children you know that tattling is a fact of life. The sun comes up in the East each morning, the Cubs are never going to win another World Series, and Kindergartners can't resist the temptation to tattle. It's biological. It's hard wired into their psyches. You might have more success turning a lion into a vegetarian than getting kindergartners to not tattle.

What I find fascinating about tattling is not that kids (and adults?!) do it, but that they engage in the behavior in spite of our best efforts to reprogram them. There is a lady in my daughter's elementary school who's job it is to teach kids some of the basics of social interaction. Once a month she comes to my daughter's kindergarten class to work with the children about how to share, not be bullies, protecting themselves from people who would try to hurt them, and the evils of tattling. She is a nice woman and the kids seem to like her. For all I know she is a highly gifted educator, but even I knew that the moment the lesson started it was doomed to complete and utter failure. Cub fans know what I am talking about here. You believe in the cause and you want so badly for it to work, but you can't escape the forces of nature no matter who is on your team. Some things are just doomed from the start of spring training.

If I remember correctly it was a cold January afternoon when the offensive on tattling was launched. The kids formed something resembling a circle on the carpet. I sat off in the distance not sure what to do. I felt like I was about to witness a car wreck. I could not stop the accident from happening, but could not turn away from watching the whole thing go down. The "behavior" teacher started to work with the children about what constituted tattling and what was okay to tell adults. Bottom line, if some property or person was going to be hurt or damaged then you need to tell an adult. Otherwise, it's tattling and you should keep it to yourself. For 30 minutes she spoke to them, went through role plays, and drilled them about tattling. It made sense to me. If I was unclear before the lesson I had a firm grasp on the subject when she was done. In fact I even felt a tinge of hope. Maybe, just maybe this high quality presentation did the trick! I stood up to go to the other side of the room and was met by a sweet young girl who promptly informed me that another child had not washed their hands when they left the bathroom. I asked her if she was tattling and with a completely straight face she told me no. POP went my bubble of hope! Again, Cub fans can grasp my emotion here. It felt like June, when the tradition swoon begins.

Humans have this remarkable capacity to rationalize our own behavior. After all, it's not tattling if I am the one that is doing it. Yet God never gives up on us. With remarkable patience God continues to try and teach us how to treat each other. My initial instinct after talking to the young girl about tattling was to weep for the future, certain that all hope was lost (come on Cubby fans, you know what I am talking about here!) With God hope is never lost. So the little girl didn't get it the first time, or the fifth, on three hundred and fifty-sixth. Someday it might click for her which is more than enough reason to continue to try and teach the lesson. So, I raise a toast to all of us who try, and try, and try to teach kindness, compassion, understanding, and love. It is the work of God. And for Cub fans, all I can say is there is always next season...and the next...and the next...