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Resources - Children's Pages
June 2001
Kid's page
Learning for Life
Anne Groenenboom
“Has anyone seen my blue pen?” Chris asked with a puzzled look on his
face. “I left it here on the table and now it’s gone.”
Amy and Carla, who were busy colouring in, shook their heads.
“Joel was here a minute ago,” Mum said. “Maybe he took it. I’d better go and find him before he does any damage with it!”
Chris groaned. He knew his little brother made a fuss if anyone tried to take something away from him, especially something he wasn’t supposed to have.
Sure enough, a loud screech came from the kitchen and Mum came back holding a tearful Joel firmly by one hand and with the missing pen in the other.
“Now that Joel’s walking everywhere, we’ll have to be much more careful
about what we leave in his reach,” Mum told the children as she
comforted Joel. “He was just about to decorate the cupboard door when I
caught him!”
“It was so much easier when he was little and he could play in his
playpen,” Amy groaned. “It’s such a nuisance having to keep everything
out of his reach.”
“I know, Amy,” Mum replied, “but he’s much too big to be in a playpen. He wants to explore and find out about everything. We need to remember that he can reach onto the table now and get into everything. We’ll just have to keep an eye on him.”
“I remember when Carla was little and she got into everything!” Chris
laughed. “Remember when she pulled that bowl of chocolate icing all over
herself! We had chocolate-coated Carla!”
Carla looked embarrassed. She didn’t like being reminded about things
she did when she was little.
Don’t worry about what Chris says, Carla,” Amy told her little sister. ”I’m sure he got into things when he was little too, babies always do.” Amy suddenly made a grab for her pencil case as Joel stood on his tiptoes and tried to get it from the middle of the table. The next minute the little boy was grabbing at Carla’s colouring book and it had to be rescued too. Chris took hold of Joel’s hand and led him over to the special corner where his toys were stored.
“Come on, Joel, let’s play with some Duplo. I’ll help you.”
“Look at the great castle Joel has made, all by himself!” Chris
commented a short time later and everyone admired the little boy’s
rather lop-sided building.
“He is getting better at building with Duplo, isn’t he, Mum!” Carla exclaimed.
“Yes and he’s going to keep on getting better at things all the time,”
Mum replied. “I know you three will have to be careful with your things
for a while, but you must remember that Joel is learning to do lots of
things, especially things he sees us doing. He copies the things we say
and do. That’s the way God made babies, to explore and copy what the
rest of the family does.”
“What about me? How did I learn to do things when I was little?” Chris
asked.
“I know Amy copied me and Carla copied us both, but how did I learn? I didn’t have anyone to copy,” Chris commented.
“Yes you did. Your father and I taught you, Chris. We spent lots of time
talking to you, reading books to you, playing with you and showing you
what to do. You followed me everywhere, copying everything I did. I can
remember one day you tried to clean the toilet out with my toothbrush,
because you watched when I scrubbed it out with the toilet brush,” Mum
laughed. Amy and Carla giggled and Chris looked embarrassed. “Joel will
learn quickly, because he has all of us to copy,” Mum said.
“Sometimes I feel scared about all the things I still have to learn,”
Chris admitted.
“I know, Chris, so do I!” Mum replied and the children looked at her in surprise.
“I still have to learn how to help you as you get older and that worries
me, especially when I hear so much about the strife that teenagers can
get into these days. But then I remember that God has promised to guide
us every step of the way and I know that I can trust Him to help us with
you as well.”
“I guess we learn things a little bit at a time and then it doesn’t seem
to be so much,“ Chris remarked. “That’s why it hasn’t seemed to be so
hard, so far.”
“That’s right, Chris. You’re learning lots at school all the time and so
is Amy and you also learn things at home. You’re learning to use Dad’s
power tools, because he’s showing you what to do. I’m showing Amy how to
cook all kinds of things and her team is learning to play netball well,
because the coach shows them what to do. Carla’s learning to do lots of
different things now she’s at school. She’s tying her shoelaces and
doing lots of lovely work. Can you remember how she scribbled when she
first started colouring in, but she got better and better at it. Joel
will be doing that sooner than you think.”
They watched Joel as he scribbled enthusiastically with a big red crayon
all over a piece of paper that Carla had given him. Amy wondered if he
would ever be able to colour in as well as Carla and decided to keep all
her books well out of his way, just in case. She could still remember
how upset she’d been when Carla scribbled all over some of her
schoolbooks.
“Won’t it be wonderful when we know everything, just like you and Dad,”
Amy said.
“I’m sure we don’t know everything, Amy,” Mum replied. “God has made us to keep on learning right through our lives. Your father and I are still learning in lots of ways. When I finish my computer course, maybe I’ll know as much about computers as you two do!”
Chris grinned, remembering how often he had helped Mum with her computer homework. Mum grinned back, knowing exactly what Chris was thinking.
“Yes, Chris, grownups can learn things from children as well! I guess
that’s the way God made things to happen.”
When Dad came home from work, they told him what they had been talking
about and Dad nodded. “You may be surprised, Chris, but I’m learning
with you as we work with those tools in the garage. I’ve used them to
fix things before, but now we’re learning to do different projects, like
the bookshelf we’ve made for your bedroom and the new toy box for Joel.”
“Well, I’m learning to read. I’ve read lots of books in my classroom and I know lots of words already. Carla announced proudly. ”Soon I’ll be able to read the Bible, then I’ll learn lots of things, wont I?”
“You certainly will,” Dad agreed. “The Bible is full of good things for
us to learn and it’s great when we can read it for ourselves, but we can
all learn about God, from each other, just the way Joel is learning to
do so many things as he gets bigger.”
“What do you mean, Dad?” Amy asked. “I know you and Mum teach us about
God, but how can we learn from each other? How can we learn from Joel,
when he’s so little?” Chris was eager to hear the answer to Amy’s
question too.
“Well, you children are learning to think of other people more and to work things out peacefully, rather than fighting and arguing... and each time I look at your little brother, I learn a little bit more about how good God is to me. Watching a baby growing and learning, little by little each day, reminds me just how wonderful everything is that God has given me, especially our family. Each one of you is a constant reminder of God’s love.”
“Even when we’re naughty?” Amy asked anxiously.
“Yes, even more when you’re naughty. God helps me to understand what
you’ve done and forgive you, he gives me patience, he helps me to
control my anger. He gives me wisdom to fix any arguments about what
you’ve done and also to teach you how to avoid trouble again. As Joel
gets into mischief, while he is busy exploring God’s world, you will
also begin to learn these things and help him too.”
“I’m glad God made our family!” Amy stated. “I’m glad we can learn
together and help each other... and I’m glad you and Mum love us so
much, even when we do something wrong.”
“We’re learning to do things God’s way, aren’t we?” Chris asked. “We’re
helping each other to grow more like Jesus... and that’s the way it
should be!”
SOMETHING TO DO :
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Get together with your family and discover how you can help each other to grow more like Jesus.
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Learn to enjoy and appreciate and encourage each other.
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Don’t laugh at other people’s mistakes.
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If you need to tell someone they’ve done the wrong thing, learn to use gentle and loving words.
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Think of ways you can do this with your friends too.
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See how much you can grow to be like Jesus.
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