Sweet words

Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.
Proverbs 16:24

One of the reasons why families decide to homeschool is for fear of bullying, which seems to be very fashionable lately. If I remember correctly, 30 years ago when it was my turn to go to school, it was already in style to make fun of other children. Sometimes they made fun of each other just for fun or because someone did not understand some concept being taught or because of their physical appearance, economic status, etc.; the list can go on and on.

Whether it's a math problem or falling asleep in class (which happened to me and the teasing continued for the rest of the year) bullying is a problem that occurs constantly in everyone's life, simply because of the sinful nature of people. The book of proverbs is full of verses that talk about the tongue and the power of words. However, being a daily occurrence does not make it right. Therefore, we should not conform or get used to it.

As parents it is our responsibility to protect the hearts of our children. It's easy to assume that because they're home they're not exposed to bullying from mean little friends or grumpy teachers. Have you ever thought about how many times a day salty water comes out of your fountain instead of fresh water? Read James chapter 3. How many times have you had to stop an argument between siblings because someone made fun of the other's bad spelling?

Let us purpose in our hearts to avoid this type of situation; We all get tired, we all get stressed, especially us as moms when someone doesn't seem to understand something after we have explained it a million times with letters and drawings, with rhymes and songs and according to us there is still no progress.

Let us strive to be more like our Lord: slow to anger and great in mercy. We should never allow our children to make fun of their siblings and most importantly remember to be the example of kindness they need so they can learn to address others with sweet words.

Before I finish, let me share a little story that happened a couple of months ago with our children. It turns out that a former homeschooler mom now a grandmother took on the task of organizing a countries of the world fair, since her children are now homeschooling, it seemed pertinent to revive this tradition of holding the fair year after year for her grandchildren and remember the old times when her children were the students. My husband and his sisters were one of those homeschoolers who participated in the fair every year and when we received the invitation we gladly accepted. This was the first time that my children would do an exhibition in front of people they didn't know. So, we finish our presentation, we cooked our typical dish, and were on our way rehearsing each one their part as we drove there. Everyone felt confident despite the nerves. When our turn came, we started and when our 7-year-old (who we always thought was the most extroverted in the family) had to speak, she was speechless, so instead of saying her part she started crying. We quickly told her not to worry and his siblings continued with the presentation without any problems.

In situations like this, it would have been very easy to scold her for not being able to do her part or for her siblings to laugh at her for having a stage fright attack, but instead of reproach, she only received kindness and help.

A wholesome tongue is a tree of life; But her perverseness there in is a breach of spirit.

Proverbs 15:4