They take backpacks filled with folders, pencils, and hopes for a great year. When conversations begin creating a picture of your child’s school year, you may discover you’re assigned something you didn’t request. You may be scheduled for “teacher trouble.”
“How could anyone be unkind to my child?” we wonder. “Why are they so harsh?” we ask. And “That didn’t seem like a professional way to handle that,” we mutter. We try to think positively, be understanding, and let the year get started. But once underway, parents may find they have, indeed, been signed up for “teacher trouble”. How do godly parents take action to build up their child, while resolving problems and having a godly testimony? The answer is found in the P.T.A.
Be a Prayer Warrior … Supply Truth and Trust.
Standing at the school doors reading the class lists the night before school started, it was clear which parents were already distraught. Some clapped with joy. Others huddled in whispers as children looked on, wondering what tyrants they were sentenced to. One little girl looked on, face full of concern, eyes welled up with tears, a sense of fear covering her usually cheerful face as she anticipated “teacher trouble.”
True or not, reactions feed possibly unfounded ideas. When concerns are real, the mama bear syndrome arises. Instead of going to the phone, go to the throne! From the truth in James 5:16, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous {mom} avails much.” Children need to learn to go to the Author of Truth, calling out to the One Who knows all their days, kindergarten to college.
When we teach our children to pray because God is in control, we also impart what it means to Trust Him. As we show we are trusting in our Heavenly Father for our cares, we lead them in learning to trust Him, too.
The mother and the little girl who cried at her assignment before school began prayed for help in her classroom challenges. They discovered that their Heavenly Father had given her the perfect teacher, a teacher equipped with the love and flexibility that she would need as her year unfolded. As they prayed, they learned to seek Truth and to Trust.
Be a Teacher … Supply Reality and Respect.
Trouble is a teachable moment for parents. When children interact with other adults, they get a lesson in Reality. Conflict lets us examine ourselves, seeing our true nature. Children need to be guided in seeing their weaknesses, as well as sin’s impact on others. The reality of living with others provides children with opportunities to learn submission to authority.
James encourages us to rejoice when we have trials, “knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience … that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing,” James 1:3,4. In fact, Romans 5 tells us we can glory in tribulations, because they ultimately produce perseverance, character, and hope. In Reality, challenges with a coach or teacher are opportunities for children to develop character.
In guiding students through lessons, we apply Truth to life’s troubles, so we are in the world, but not “like” it. Jesus prayed we would be protected from Evil, but not that we would be removed from the tests of life. By helping children find answers in God’s Word, they learn that Truth makes a difference in Real life.
Godly parents approach teacher trouble by speaking truth in love, with Respect. Children see and hear this. One year my daughter had a teacher who was publically humiliating and cruel to students. Several weeks into the year, I prayerfully wrote a careful letter to the teacher. It respectfully communicated truth, and it was effective. The teacher was never again unkind to my daughter or to me.
Be an Advocate … Supply Wisdom and Words.
A serious incident prompted a call to a first grader’s mother. The response on my desk was a letter of hateful accusations. Excusing myself, I asked my teaching partner to cover my classroom while I pulled myself together, praying over the tsunami of words. That night, I phoned the parent to answer the attack. Instead, I was met with personal confessions, unrelated feelings, and desperate apologies. She wanted the words back.
There may come a time when God prompts us to be an Advocate for our child. When that time comes, our student needs to see Wisdom in our timing and manner. After a foundation of prayer and a filter of truth, we need to be “slow to speak and slow to wrath,” James 1:19. Children learn from words spoken directly to and about the offending adult. Confrontation requires wisdom and godly words. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him,” James 1:5. “Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances,” Proverbs 25:11 (NASB).
As students encounter others in the classrooms of life, they will sometime experience “teacher trouble.” Embrace the test as a Prayer Warrior, Teacher, and Advocate for your child, helping them learn God has answers for the challenges of life at any age.
Here are 10 ways you can pray for your teacher:
- Ask God to give the teacher a desire to know Him or to know Him more.
- Pray that they would see the positive qualities in each child and appreciate them.
- Pray that they would discern the academic needs and personal needs of each child.
- Ask the Lord to give them energy, health, and strength for their work.
- Pray that they might have fresh patience and creativity, daily.
- Pray that the teacher would seek help when needed and would feel supported.
- Ask God to give them heavenly wisdom to deal with conflicts and concerns.
- Pray that they would experience the joys of teaching.
- Pray that the teacher will grow in compassion, skill, and insight.
- Ask God to show you how you can actively encourage and help the teacher.
Have you experienced ‘Teacher Trouble” before? Has this offered you a different perspective to how to handle teacher trouble when it comes your way?
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