Our Grace started kindergarten last week. Each day since, she comes home with a new letter of the alphabet, and a poem to go with it. Cute stuff...learning the basics. But yesterday I was moved to tears by her lesson learned for the day. She pulled a crumpled red contruction paper heart out of her backpack and began to smooth it out with her hands before beginning the story. The tone of her voice softened as she began..."Mom, our teacher says that when we call someone a bad name or tease them, this happens to their heart..." and she began to gently crumple one edge of the paper heart. "And if we make fun of them, or laugh at them, this happens to their heart..." and she crumpled the other side of the heart. She continued "And when we tell them we're sorry, and try to make things better," (she began smoothing the heart out again) "their heart gets better, but we still leave wrinkles on their heart Mom. When we're mean to someone it changes their heart forever." By this time, tears are rolling down my cheeks. I hugged her. She ran off to grab an after school snack, and I hung the heart proudly on the front of the fridge. Note to self: be sure to send that teacher a note of thanks...and maybe a treat. These are the basic lessons all kids need to hear.
God Bless.
