TOO CLOSE TO THE MIRROR

I love story telling so I am going to begin with one. from Aesops fables...

Æsop. (Sixth century B.C.)  Fables.

The Young Thief and His Mother

A YOUNG Man had been caught in a daring act of theft and had been condemned to be executed for it. He expressed his desire to see his Mother, and to speak with her before he was led to execution, and of course this was granted. When his Mother came to him he said: “I want to whisper to you,” and when she brought her ear near him, he nearly bit it off. All the bystanders were horrified, and asked him what he could mean by such brutal and inhuman conduct. “It is to punish her,” he said. “When I was young I began with stealing little things, and brought them home to Mother. Instead of rebuking and punishing me, she laughed and said: ‘It will not be noticed.’ It is because of her that I am here today.”	1
“He is right, woman,” said the Priest: the Lord hath said: “TRAIN UP A CHILD IN THE WAY HE SHOULD GO; AND WHEN HE IS OLD HE WILL NOT DEPART THEREFROM.”

Today we had one of those experiences that first reminds you of the story above and then  you stop and think ...okay...wow...people actually still think like this in real life? And then i remembered a song we once sang somewhere. " I am too close to the mirror...? I suppose in a big way that line has stuck to my mind. Every time i cant seem to have a direction I step back and take a look at my thinking.

So there is this mom concerned that her child is sweeping a class...(from how it was described i noted with concern it might have been a punishment). However she did not stop there and went on to rant and rave that her child was made to sweep, clean and explained that her child even at home cannot do such a thing and it is a show of abuse. OKAY......STOP!!!how old is this child.......9 YEARS.....CASE CLOSED. And my oh my was she angry at the teacher and the school to the point of annoying all of us seated there...

9 years old should know how to at least pick a broom up or remove a cup from the table ...NOT this child i tell you. Not this one. But as a matter of concern how many parents (Mother's we top the chart on this one) do we actually baby our children to the point that they cannot or will not do anything for themselves...? I am especially concerned that it spills over into our school system. We don't like to be told that our children need correction, we don't like them to be corrected, we don't want to correct them because they are "babies" and then when disaster strikes we are quick to cry that our child does not listen...

We have a saying here..(translated from Swahili) "Whoever is not taught by the mother will be taught by the world"

I believe that a child until they are of a certain age will project their parents thinking onto the rest of the world. We need to be careful. Are we too close to the mirror that we see with a distorted view? Will we be the kind of parents who paint a bad picture of everyone else then expect that this children will fit into the society some day, will be able to handle situations that come their way? We don't claim to be perfect , but the day those little feet know how to walk a level of independence settles in. What do we want them to see of the world?

It is wrong to victimize a child. It is even worse to give a child a punishment they don't deserve and don't understand, but denying them the opportunity to learn a skill that will be useful in the future is wrong on many levels. This children will not have us fighting their battles all the time. In our absence will they stand the test?

i will leave you with Solomon’s advice to parents is to “train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

OF PUPPETS, BROKEN POTS, FLAWS AND THINGS IN BETWEEN

Our audience is mainly made up of children from the ages of 8 to perhaps 16. Interesting combination of both boys and girls. Yesterday we invited the puppets into the classroom and kids took off. it was perhaps one of the most entertaining segment i'd had all day. Eventually after learning that hand puppets don't actually talk to you and they don't in fact bite we had almost every one in a class of 70 decide they wanted to stand in front of the class, sing , recite poems and give us stories. I was not surprised that even the usually very shy ones had something to say while they simply opt to be silent.

Today however the crowd was a little more older and mature. We did the broken pot again. There is simply something about that story. The water bearer knew all along that one of the pots was broken and even went to the point of planting flower seeds along its path so that whenever they came back from the river, it would water the seeds. The final point hit the nail on the head...." Each of us has our own unique flaws. We are all cracked pots, but its the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. We've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them. There's alot of good out there.

We asked the kids  to write a letter to their future children. i want to write out a bit of what they wrote...
1) My dear children, I am writing this letter when i am 13 years old. I am telling you that when i was in lower classes, i used to eat papers and throw them at the teacher. Please do not do this because the teacher used to be very sad

2) My dear lovely children, i want you to know that i am a lazy person in my home and in class. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be good. I am writing from your past to you and i wish you get this letter

3)I want to tell you my dear future children that i was busy watching television in my home and i was always the last in class. I want to tell you that you should be reading all the time in the class and outside so that you have good marks.

I wondered to myself, if they know so much about their flaws and would in fact advice their future children not to be like them, why don't they then change now? What is holding them back?
THEN ...i looked into their background. Maybe we have looked so much into what we don't have that we don't see what we can be.
INSPIRE NYERI KENYA

When story telling INSPIRES

Storytelling takes you on a journey that inspires you to learn about yourself and the world around you. It reflects social values in a culture that motivate people in their pursuit of a meaningful life. The oral tradition of storytelling makes it possible for a culture to pass knowledge, history, and experiences from one generation to the next. Since humanity first walked the earth, they have told stories as a way to shape our existence..maybe that is why i look forward to our story telling sessions every week.



There is a beauty in the keen faces of children as they follow your every move. React when you do and even sing along and repeat after you. The purpose.....cultivate the love for both reading and story telling. 
There is a little boy who really touched our hearts the other day. We had just finished telling the story of the little engine that could. Its an old story that helps to teach about not giving up and specifically that it is okay to ask for help. We had given the kids (all 70 of them) little engines to colour and some extra work for home work. Then i noticed this little boy looking all depressed and inquired as to why.
Then the little boy told me," teacher if you give me this work i will not do it because i don't have crayons. Can you kindly give me crayons because my mother cannot afford to buy them for me. Every money she has, she has to utilize it for our home use." You said it was okay to ask for help. I am asking for help."
Yes i gave him the box of 10 crayons. It was the best feeling ive had in a while, when what you teach is practical and has impact. When it INSPIRES.
That is what our stories do. They INSPIRE. We may no longer have fire side places where we sit round our elders and listen to ancient wisdom but we can revive an art that will help our children grow up morally correct.

"You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone's soul, becomes thier blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift." - Erin Morgenstern

WHY WHAT WE SAY MATTERS

We take great pride in what we do. We teach children based on leadership habits. Yesterday we were teaching a rather important lesson. The question was very simple...what do you see when you look at your self? Towards this end we decided to open the topic with the illustration of the Japanese way of repairing broken pots where they use gold dust glue. The pot comes out looking amazing at the end of day.
Then we quickly moved to the story of the water bearer which i have posted here on a previous blog. it is basically a story about our imperfections. It talks about a pot which hated itself for having a crack. It was so focused on this crack that it failed to see the flowers on its side of the path that it had watered for two years.
We are not perfect. Most of the children we handle come from backgrounds that would make one blush in protest when they count their blessings. There are homes where anger and resentment are the order of the day. There are homes where a child is a bread winner before they are 10 years old. There are homes without parents only grandparents. There are homes where mothers and daughters are victimized constantly that they have to suppress who they really are. There are homes where poverty is so strong it comes with brothers. And yet, in spite of all this, this children will brave the morning cold in pursuit of an education.
However we have to step in and remind them that they have value. They can believe in their dreams. That we have imperfect people who have beaten all odds to come out on top. That there are flowers on your side of the path if you can only look. But we found that even for them its hard to recognize any good in themselves. And so our assignment for the week was set. 7 days of writing something nice. Seven days in which a child is required to affirm themselves. To dig deep and find that which is of value to them.

                                (a class of children with various learning disabilities using tablets)
of particular importance to me, is that as parents we really need to start telling our children that there is good in them, such that at a moments notice they can find the strength in who they are. Before they ever see the world for what it is, this precious little ones will learn it from somebody else's view point. What are we telling them?