A mother bird's wing

My husband and I teach a children's class at church. Because the New Year began this last week, we said good-bye to our 6-year olds we taught this past year and then we welcomed a "new batch" of 5-year olds. There is a significant difference between the two age groups. The 6-year olds could sit down, could listen for at least a good 7-10 minutes without interrupting, and knew how to raise their hands to ask a question or take a turn. These new kids were constantly talking with one another and had no clue about the purpose of the class. We asked ourselves after church on our ride home, "Could one year make such a difference?" Apparently it does.

But our main concern with this new group of kids is that one of them, although 5 on paper, speaks as though he were 2-years old. The way he talks is the kind of language that only a mother, who is around him constantly, understands. We could not understand him a bit - not even when he spoke his name. The child next to him, getting frustrated when we asked the faltering child for the seventh or eighth time, "Don?" "Juan?" (seriously), answered for him: "His name's John." (duh!) It's a simple name and we seriously could not understand the child.

Throughout the course of the class period, we would ask each of the children their thoughts on the particular principle, this time "choosing the right," and each time we asked John, either my husband or myself would have to reply, "That's interesting" or "Really? That's nice." We just could not decipher what he was saying. And his peer, sitting next to him, kept looking at him with a questioning stare like, "Really, man? You talk like a baby?" It wouldn't surprise you to hear that after 15 minutes or so of class time, the kids laughed in ridicule at John. And John began to cry.

Today, in our periodic phone calls, my husband and I keep talking about John. Will it get better as the other children socialize him into a more appropriate and age-appropriate language? Why did his mother allow him to continue to speak like a baby? ....'cause it's only cute while a kid is 2, then it's just ridiculous. How much do we interfere/help the kid to speak? But then we starting talking about the other children in the class: How do we teach them empathy? And how do we help them to help and shelter and protect this kid from the scorn and mocking laughter that he'll get from his peers as he enters Kindergarten?

At dinner tonight, we spoke with our own children about this dilemma. We reminded them that we still have a baby in our home, and that it is never appropriate to speak to him in or mimic or encourage his babytalk. We explained, skimming over the details, about the child who speaks like a baby and is made fun of in our children's class. We explained to them how a mother bird protects her babies with her wing, and they, too, can protect those weaker than themselves. We asked them to practice empathy in their lives because there will be the geeks or the outcasts or the dummies or whatever they're called nowadays who just don't get it, but they - the E children sitting at this dinner table tonight - are never to be the mocking and laughing ones. They are to be the protectors saying, "Hey, man, that's not cool" or "Hey leave him alone" or whatever. But we gave them a goal and we gave them the vernacular to help them implement the goal. And we began the process of teaching them empathy for their fellowmen. We hope.

May one child's heart be sheltered because our kids know better ... at least we pray they do.