I'm always heartsick at the many sad lives of children that I encounter. Sometimes it seems they are guided only by the negative in the world. As much as we gripe about schools today, it is there that many children are exposed to something positive. It might be the only place they find any good.
This conversation I share happened a few days ago. It was breakfast time at a junior high. I was doing my usual get-to-know you stuff. I ask questions about how everyone is doing to stimulate some conversation. I always try to see if I can remember every one's name. And, I'm always promoting kindness and explaining how we should be good to each other.
7th Grader: Hey, Mrs. Blair! Do you cuss?
Me: No.
7th Grader: Never, ever?
Me: Never, ever.
7th Grader: Why not?
Me: Because it isn't right.
7th Grader: Do you cuss at your kids?
Me: No.
7th Grader: Even if they broke the television?
Me: No! I might not be happy about my television being broken, but I wouldn't cuss about it.
7th Grader: Why don't you cuss at your kids?
Me. I think cussing is wrong. If I want to teach my children that it's wrong, then I need to set a good example. It's all about being respectful and kind.
7th Grader: (He looked at me with somewhat disbelief, shook his head and smiled.)
I found out later, from one of the para-educators I was working with, that they have a problem with this student cussing in class. Interestingly, he never did it (at least around me) the three days I was there.
When I got home that day I told this story to my daughter, Cassie. She said, "That boy will remember that conversation forever." I hope so.
"Our speech reflects the kind of person we are, exposing our background and our way of life. It describes our thinking, as well as our inner feelings.
"Many times in our effort to refrain from improper speech, we find words to substitute. Sometimes they are so close to vulgar phrases everyone probably knows that we are substituting words and have not really improved our vocabulary."
"To anyone who has followed the practice of using profanity or vulgarity and would like to correct the habit, could I offer this suggestion? First, make the commitment to erase such words from your vocabulary. Next, if you slip and say a swear word or a substitute word, mentally reconstruct the sentence without the vulgarity or substitute word and repeat the new sentence aloud. Eventually you will develop a non-vulgar speech habit."
Yep, just got chills. We hear about that all the time, Ned being a therapist to children, and my brother being a teacher. My brother called home because one of his students was being trouble, in the background he hears the parents cussing the child out, so he said never mind we are ok. Because its not wonder some kids are and act the way they do when there parents are not the examples they should be. PROUD of your example!
ReplyDeleteI pray he not only remembers the conversation, but also make a complete change in his langauge. You are a great example!!
ReplyDeleteWhen I read your post this quote from Spencer W. Kimball came to my mind: "Much of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days will come because many of the good women of the world (in whom there is often such an inner sense of spirituality) will be drawn to the Church in large numbers. This will happen to the degree that the women of the Church reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and to the degree that the women of the Church are seen as distinct and different—in happy ways—from the women of the world. … Thus it will be that female exemplars of the Church will be a significant force in both the numerical and the spiritual growth of the Church in the last days."
ReplyDeleteThank you for standing for truth and righteousness and beinf "different in a happy way" Martha!
Thanks for all the encouragement:)
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