Candyland Family Night

Makenna Holt enjoys making a craft with her friends

3rd Grade teachers organized a fun evening for our parents and students to come and enjoy each others' company.  On December 9th, we filled the cafeteria with students, eager to have a good time.  Parents came to participate and some came so socialize with other parents.  All went way with goodies and fulfillment of time well spent.

Diana and her mother enjoy putting together crafts

Students played games at the 3rd Grade Candyland.

10 Years

Birthdays used to be so important when I was a child.  I think students at our school think more about their birthday than they do Christmas or any other holiday.  It's THEIR SPECIAL DAY.  They don't share it with anyone else.  All the attention for that day is on them.  Students of mine come up to me to make sure that I will announce their birthday in our morning assembly.  I'll ask them when their birthday is.  They'll tell me that it is the next month or two months from now.  To them, their birthday is right around the corner.  I assure them that I will remember to announce their name so we can sing to them.

As adults, most of us don't think too much about birthdays.  We have our "special landmark birthdays" that identify how young we are NOT anymore.  "20" is a good birthday, "30" is okay, but comes with the idea that we're not really young anymore.  "40" shows maturity, but we start feeling some aches and pains.  I had more joint problems in my 40's than in any other time so far in my life.  Once I hit "50," I started feeling old in some ways.  The number "50" was very tough for me.  My birthday came and went that year and all I had was the number to let me know my status in life.  

My recent birthday over the Christmas holiday brought me a little closer to the next plateau -- "60."  Wow, that number rings a bell in me.

So, with all this comes a reflection on TEN YEARS.  When I came to the Waco area, I was forty years old.  My children were in elementary and middle school and we were beginning a new life in Central Texas.  Ten years after that, both my boys had left the house and were in college.  Ten years doesn't seem like much, but it brings so much change to one's life.  I look back in our church directory to see people who attended ten years ago.  Many of them had small children, a husband and a wife.  Since then (10 years later), their children are grown and may have moved away.  Sadly, there are many couples who split up in that time.  Divorce takes over so many of our lives today.

When I speak to students who are 8, 9, or 10 years old, I tell them that they won't be this age forever.  Most students don't think about getting older.  Their concern is today, this week, and what video game they'll be playing when they get home.

As parents, we need to also realize that our children are not going to be this age forever.  I used to tell my own children, "Stop growing!!"  They never listened to me.  We need to continuously feed our children, not only food, but things to enrich their minds - Books being one of the best sources.  Get your children interested in reading by reading to them at home.  My last book that I read to my boys was "Bridge to Terebithia."  I never finished it with him.  Bedtime rituals went away when my youngest got older.  I know many of you read to your children at bedtime.  This will benefit them to no end.

Besides reading, giving them life long experiences in problem solving will benefit them so much.  My dad fixed everything when I was growing up.  I held many lights for him as he fixed his cars.  Ironically, I held many lights for my oldest son when he was fixing his cars.  

Don't let 10 YEARS slip away.  Use every minute of every day reflecting on how you can enrich your childrens' lives physically, academically, and spiritually.