I was in the 4th grade. I had just turned in my test. And she just laid it there. Right on my desk. And my heart began to race, as I looked and saw that she had given me sentences! Why? What had I done?!
Have you ever had something happen to you and, for the life of you, couldn't understand why? This was one of those times. In fourth grade, at McBride Elementary, my teacher liked to give sentences to students as punishment. She expected students to write the sentence "100 times." I can still hear her voice as she gets onto a student: "You will write 100 times."
I was always a good student. All of my teachers always said I was a joy to have. I think it's mostly because I was so shy back then. I was quiet. I did what I was told. I avoided having any attention at all costs. And this teacher laid those sentences on my desk without ever giving me any explanation!
To this day, I still don't understand why she gave them to me. I have replayed the scene in my head so many times, and I still don't know why I had to do them. But I did them. And I was too intimidated to even ask her what I had done. I just did them.
This was one of my first experiences of an unanswered question. The funny thing about it is that now, it seems like I have more unanswered ones than I have answered. Why is the question parents seem most annoyed with and kids can never get a satisfactory answer to. But why is a good question to ask. After all, there is no reason to waste time on something if there is no good purpose for doing it. I am thoroughly convinced that the greatest thinkers are great because they always ask "why." My husband, for one, has a very philosophical mind. He is always asking why things are the way they are. He is always trying to figure things.
I pray that I will never be a parent who responds "Because I said so." I want to give my children the explanation they are searching for. I want to encourage them to ask why. I, personally, feel that I should be asking why more often.
To be sure, we will never have the vast knowledge that God has. But we will have a lot of things revealed to us in the end that we simply cannot and do not understand now. That's certainly something Christians have to look forward to.
When I think about asking "why," I can't help but thinking about us having a son someday. I can just picture him being just like his daddy, in the child version: "But Mama, WHYYY??" The thought thrills my heart.
Maybe then, I'll somehow learn why that teacher gave me those 100 sentences.
After trying my hardest to answer Cameron's "whys," there have been some occasions when he finally accepted "because I said so" over what I thought were plausible reasons.
ReplyDeleteThere are times when I think it has been easier to accept Biblical principles simply because God "said so." I don't have the understanding to always grasp the reasoning.
Perhaps "because I said so" spoken in a gentle, loving manner reinforces the love and authority of a parent.
Jesus obeyed and went with his parents because they said so, even though He had His reasons for staying in Jerusalem when He was only 12.
And, she placed it on the wrong desk. How was the sentence worded?
Good point. The thought did cross my mind that sometimes a good "because I said so" helps a child learn authority.
ReplyDeleteThe sentences she gave out were generic. No matter who got it, it said something along the lines of: "I am sorry for my actions. I will obey Mrs. Ingram's classroom rules." Not quite that, but something generic like that, anyway.