Learning Discipline at the Hands of 15 Children!

November 24, 2009
Discipline. Something that makes most of us cringe. I’ve heard parents say that discipline “hurts me more than it hurts you!” and I often wondered if there was reality behind that statement! Well, in as much as I love these kids, they’ve been trying me recently. Our biggest battle is the TV room (yes, even in Nepal that fuzzy pictured machine distracts children of all ages!). It’s a rule that the kids don’t watch TV at all during the week except on Fridays. I think it’s a FANTASTIC rule! However, the kids tend to disagree, and have been fighting me on it when Uncle’s not here. I’ll be helping someone with math, and see some little Nepali figure dart by and into the TV room, hoping that I don’t spot their stealthy ways.

Well, this got really old, really fast, because they know they’re not supposed to be in there (they scatter the moment Uncle drives up), and they know I know they’re not supposed to be in there (I come shoo them away every few minutes). So, I simply told them that if I caught any of them in the TV room for the next 2 weeks during exams, they won’t get to go out to eat with the rest of us when exams are finished.

The threat worked great, the first day... then, the kids decided to try me. As I was helping some with math (and they ALL needed to be studying math), I heard the telltale creek of the TV room door and the swift closing of it. In a calm, serene anger, I walked in and told them all to “Get out.” I didn’t yell, or even listen to their arguments as to why they were in there. I merely waited for them to leave. I then realized that I had to follow through with my threat, or else my punishments would become empty words to them. So I pulled them off to the side, and explained to them that they would not be allowed to go with us to the restaurant. Which was so frustrating to me because I just wanted us all to be able to enjoy an afternoon off of school and studying in between terms.

Then, in the evening devotionals, I dove into 1 John 3 with them, explaining why continued disobedience and sin is so upsetting to me. And as I talked, I remembered for the first time in awhile that I’m not here to make them better math students. I’m not here to teach in a school. I’m here to serve Krishna however he needs me to serve, and to teach the kids to love Jesus more today than they did yesterday. If I can teach them math while teaching them about Jesus, awesome, and God’s already shown that He’s using my time in the school to move in some of the other teacher’s lives!

But more important than giving these kids math skills is the reality that they are Jesus’ lights in this world. Teaching them to be light is SO much harder than teaching them to factor polynomials! But I think it’s beginning to set in; I caught one of my girls cheating during her math exam today. I cut marks from her paper and her neighbors paper, but I didn’t address the situation there and opted to wait until we got home. Well, we got home, and I expected a battle to ensue of “I wasn’t cheating! I was just looking around! You’re always picking on me!” (this child and I have had our share of will battles over math, I assure you!). But instead, she came and found me, and before I could say anything, she said “Sister, I’m so sorry that I was cheating. I know it was wrong, and I know I shouldn’t have done it. I’m very very sorry!” Floored, I responded “I forgive you. And I’m so proud of you for taking responsibility for your actions and apologizing on your own!”

I got to see a seed of change today in a young girl’s life. She’s probably the last one I would have expected to voluntarily apologize for something she did, and she’s the one who fights me the most! But yet, God’s Word has caught hold in her heart, and day by day is changing her, right before my eyes! I can assure you, that might have been the coolest thing that I’ve seen in my whole time here!