The Small King

            This entry is my 800th entry and it is about one of the children that I am teaching now. It seems like every daycare/preschool has a small king in each classroom I am in. I have noticed that id a child is the king of the house then he will to be the king everywhere else. That's fine with me I love to be stubborn and have a challenge at the same time. It almost took me 2 months with this small king but I think I finally got through to him. It took getting hurt a few times and talking stern with him. It also took help with another teach being involved and watching his behavior carefully too.  Took my toes getting hurt and him slapping me. Also there is special experience that need to be had when being involved with a king child.
            Another things that it took other teachers and me to do were: telling him he was the only one in the class, me telling him that he needs to listen to his Nana, and trying the massager on him for nap time only once. After that time of massaging, he is letting me rock him to sleep every so often. But other teachers did point out other important things to me. Things like pushing and lifting heavy things around to calm him down, gets mad when classmates yell in a high pitched scream, and that he needs a bigger area to run and play in. He can't have a routine because he is too smart for his own good. He knows what the teachers plan to do and he avoids them. He also likes to do messy things like paint and slime. He really calms down with those things and he spends a lot of time messing with them too.
            Since we have found all of these things out, he has been a lot calm and easier to get along with. He has also greeted me some mornings at the door, which is surprising for him. He has also played with me more in the gym and even in the classroom. He will let me help him pick things up and he will do it if I am with him helping him. He also listens to me more too. He would even take the sensory pokey balls for an afternoon to calm him down. We just rubbed them on his back, up and down the middle of his back. It was so neat because after the week of this them a weekend, we came back on Monday and he seemed happy and he would even let me rock him to sleep. It's moments like these that I teach even the hardest children.
            It does take time for things to work out for the best. As I am writing this, I am thinking of a few situations that I have struggled in or am struggling in right now in my own personal life. It is funny how God works that way. I wanted this child to like me right away but it took him some time to get to trust me and see that I was there for him no matter how he treated me. Sometimes, it isn't just the child that we need to do that for and with. Sometimes it is our friends and dearly loved ones too. We need to step back and look at the situation. Leave it alone for a couple months to a couple of years and then look back on it and see what really happened. Was it for the best? How did it change? Did I change because of it?
          There is always a story somewhere if you just look for it. I am also a big believer in pray in these situations. God working in the child's life while He is giving me patience and wisdom along with anything else I pray for. God does work in our lives everyday lives when we open our eyes to realize it. Not just with children but with everyone around us. It is time for me to step away from some things and let God work how He wants to work. It is time to honestly trust God with what I haven't been trusting Him with for years.