New beginnings and a new name...

I have a new calling at church. I was called with Cody to teach the 3 year old "sunbeams" in primary. We have a great class, but they are rascals, just like my nephews. 3 year olds have the attention span of a gnat and to try and teach them the plan of salvation or even that they have a body like Heavenly Father is not an easy task. I've taught for the majority of my adult life in church, but teaching 3 year olds is by far the most difficult. I don't think they grasp 1/100th of what I teach. And to try and keep their attention is impossible. Literally, I have about 1 minute or less of uninterrupted time before someone wants to tell me about buzbuz their monkey, or malia their frog, or show me their bracelet.

It's exhausting having 3 year olds in an hour lesson in a small, cold room, void of toys and color in the last hour (3rd) of church. We've made some adjustments after learning through experience. We now have "share time" to discuss the buzbuz and malia type announcements. We now sing non-church related songs like head-shoulder-knees-and-toes to get the wiggles out. We go on "exploration" walks to find pictures of Jesus outside of the small classroom. We use way more visual aids with colors to keep their attention on something at the front of the room. Mind you, we are nothing like the other professional sunbeam teachers who have a schedule, laminated hand-outs, puppet toys, a Mary Poppins bag with everything a kid might need, and the works, but we are getting better. I'm having to physically restrain the kids less. I'm actually enjoying all the kids now (I was in a fake fight with one particular girl who didn't behave so well initially).

Well, just when everything was feeling good, we experienced our low point as teachers yesterday. Turns out Kathrine is not really Kathrine, but Vanessa. We have been calling her the WRONG NAME for at least a month. She's very nice and a little shy. She holds my hand a lot. She has never once corrected us, but yesterday Cody remembered that her mother looked at him strangely last week when he said "Bye Kathrine" after class. And yesterday some 10 year old boys were calling Kathrine, Vanessa. I corrected them and they looked at me like I was crazy. They tried to insist, but caved. Cody and I shared stories and checked the roll. We do have a Kathrine, but we also have a Vanessa. BUST!!! After getting past the game of hiding her face when we asked her what her real name is, Kathrine confirmed that her name was indeed Vanessa. We were soooo embarrassed. We are officially the worst primary teachers ever! My confidence as a gospel instructor is seriously bruised. We all had a great laugh over how "silly" Brother and Sister Orvin are.

I will forever appreciate my future kids' teachers at church. I will not fail to say thanks for letting me get grown-up spiritual nourishment while you deal with buzbuz, light up shoes with Cinderella on them, and attention spans that border on non-existent. I will understand that if after a year, my young child has learned nothing but who Jesus is and how to pray, the primary teacher was magnifying their calling. I will know that primary is not just babysitting for the teacher, but an opportunity where teachers learn to balance spiritual instruction with active minds and bodies. This is hard work people!

note: I just read this post to Cody. His reaction was, "speaking of attention span your post is way too long Robin." Seems I'm doomed since I am naturally long-winded. Whatever. Also, I have changed the name of the little girl in our story. Cody insisted.