Mistakes

A connection between Kindergarten and our lives!

As most of you know, my life is wonderfully consumed with Kindergarten. I love it. I’m reading this book on guidance and it’s talking about appropriate discipline in the classroom. It states that mistakes are developmentally appropriate for children. I’m sure most of you know what that means, but I’ll put it in simpler terms. As a teacher, you have to know and expect the kind of behavior that will be happening on a day to day basis. Older kids can sit longer than younger kids, so teachers plan accordingly. A teacher should not be shocked when a five year old begins to poke, kick, bite, take their shoes off, lay down, undress, or whatever they want to do when they’ve been sitting at the carpet for an hour! It’s no longer the kid’s fault, but the teacher’s when that happens. It’s just not appropriate for 5 year olds to sit all day! Kindergarten days are active. Developmentally you cannot expect them to sit at desks for hours upon hours. It aint happen’n!

So, as a teacher I know that one important factor that will be happening every day of the school year is MISTAKES! Kindergarten students will be experiencing a lot of social problems that they have never experienced (fighting over paint brushes, sharing a book, cutting in line, etc). If I expect there to be no mistakes in my class, I’m in for a big suprise. As a matter of fact, Kindergarten is all about making mistakes and it being ok! Students should feel safe in making mistakes. It’s perfectly ok that my student draws a horse that can fly with pink and purple polka dots or spell words wrong. My job is to guide them to do it differently next time, not to make them feel like they are a failure.

I can’t help but think God has a similar perspective when looking at us here on earth. I think he would say that mistakes are developmentally appropriate for us. It’s going to happen! Life is just like a kindergarten classroom - a safe place to make mistakes. But, if our view of authority and of God is not right, we will be shame based and feel as if we are a disappointment to God and others. But, if we view life as a "safe place to make mistakes," we know that when we make a mistake, we won’t have to sit in God’s time out corner, put our nose in a circle on the heavenly chalk board, or write our bible scriptures ten times perfectly! God’s job, just like a good teacher, is to guide us to do it differently next time, not to make us feel like a failure. Just like students, some of us will catch on the first time we make a mistake, others will make the same mistake several times before we learn there is a better way of doing it. The truth is, mistakes are a big part of our life - probaby one of the most important parts of our life! Knowing that, I can sure handle my own life better and be a whole lot patient with others!

Therefore, my new motto is "MISTAKES ARE DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE!!!"