A call from the teacher pretty much never amounts to anything good. I am very vigilant on the email front with Noah's teachers. I have to be. If I don't advocate for him, no one else will. So I keep the lines of communication lines open right from the beginning.
The bill collectors are ringing the phone off the hook, so I haven't been answering lately if I don't recognize the number. So I didn't answer the local number. I listened to the voice mail about a half hour later.
I was very confused by the message. It started talking about Noah and another little boy, B, playing a game on the playground with throwing rocks so they both had to take out the lion and tiger (the classes discipline system) for the behavior. But she told me that B's mom was throwing a fit because B said that Noah was the only one doing it so the mom wanted B's lion and tiger restored. Then out of the blue, she started talking about Noah being extremely upset and fighting with this same boy about God.
It threw me for a big loop. B's family are Jehovah's Witnesses so Noah already knew that they didn't celebrate parties and the holidays the same way that we do so I couldn't imagine what the problem was.
After I got home from work, Noah was in bed so I went up to talk to him about it. I asked him what had happened. At first he was scared to tell me but I told him that no matter what he said, I wouldn't be mad since we were talking about it and then he started opening up.
He said that he had a big fight with B because his mom had said that God's name wasn't God. And that he had called B's mom foolish for saying that.
So I took the Bible that Noah had on his nightstand and told him that just like I call him different names like Noah, Noah Stephen, or Bud...God has many different names too. Then I started naming different names, and on purpose, I mentioned "Jehovah" as the third or fourth name. He shouted "that's what B called him!" So I turned to the name Jehovah in the Bible and we talked about how we all believe in the same God but in different way sometimes, and that I was proud of him for being proud enough to talk about his faith. But then I made it clear to him that it is important to always respect how other people view God, even if you don't agree with them.
So this morning when I walked Noah into school, I talked with the teacher and then the mom that witnessed the entire exchange. This mom is friends with B's mom so it was a little skewed but I got the general gist of what happened. She did say that she was surprised at how deep Noah was thinking about things and impressed with his knowledge base. That made me feel proud as well. I feel like I handled it pretty well and I am hoping that things will clear themselves up.
Unfortunately, this mom had an issue with Noah last year in kindergarten too, so we'll just have to see where this goes.
In general though, I was quite happy to have had this discussion with Noah opened up and I love that Noah is thinking so hard about our faith and how it applies to our every day life. At times, I think talking about it with my six year old is the best way for me to think about my own faith and remembering to keep it foremost in my life.
Have a great weekend.
