When you think kids aren’t listening…. they just might be.

I have a bad habit of trying to make my own children sit completely still and quiet when I’m reading them a Bible story or trying to have a serious conversation. Not all children learn best that way. I was one of those children. I needed to constantly be moving something… tapping my foot, shaking my leg or rolling my pencil around in my hand. (Who am I kidding? I’m still like that.) It helped me focus and remember what I was hearing. My dad used to jokingly make fun of me when I was in high school and college. I would be studying for a test and every time I felt like I had a point memorized, I would click my pen. It’s just what I did. It somehow helped my brain remember.

I’ve realized that some children are perfectly capable and willing to sit on the front row and sit still and listen while they are being taught. Other children are fidgeters. They have to be moving and playing with something in their hands. Still others feel the need to do cartwheels while you’re trying to teach them a new song. There is an array of personalities among any given group of children, but it’s easy for teachers to appreciate and favor the kids that are quiet and easy to teach. They sometimes assume those are the kids who are absorbing what is being taught. It takes more effort, energy and creativity to teach those children that can’t sit still or won’t stop talking. Now certainly, sometimes children are making a choice to disobey. There has to be some discernment there for sure. I think as you get to know the children you are teaching, you start to learn their baseline and how best to connect with them.

There is one particular child that I initially drew the wrong conclusion about. I got a bad first impression and I dreaded the next time he showed up for class. I was mostly frustrated with myself because I did not know how to handle him and how best to communicate with him. I was getting easily annoyed by what I considered his lack of respect and attention to the teacher. I made my own judgments in my heart and assumed he was getting nothing out of our teaching time and in the mean time, was distracting the other children.

One day, we had the kids act out the Bible story. The teacher assigned this child the part of Paul. I just knew for sure this child was not going to cooperate and actually act out the correct part. I sat there with a humbled heart and a big smile on my face as I watched this child not only act out his part of the story, but straight up share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the whole class (without the script!). He had been listening and he did understand. Somewhere along the way… either at home, in life group, at school…. wherever, he had heard. He might have been making paper airplanes or doodling or poking his neighbor, but while he was doing that, he was also listening.

As hard as it is, I think we should keep praising, praising, praising these sweet kiddos when they make good choices. Gently correct the wrong behaviors. But no matter what, keep teaching them God’s word. They are listening. They are absorbing. And in spite of all of our weaknesses and failures as parents and teachers, maybe these kids will grab on to that truth, with God’s grace they will claim it as their own and in His power, share it with others.