It is this time of year, as I get older and older, I think of how far we have come as a society.  I think of things that we usually take for granted or just take as a part of life.  Often, I find myself thinking of all the ladies that have had children, even thinking of when my girls were born.

Just the process is somewhat overwhelming, to say the least.  Especially the days leading up to the birth of the baby.  We now have the opportunities to summons medical assistance to get the new mom to the hospital and to be in the comforts of medical attention who can assist in the birth of the child.

I think of the contractions that mothers endure as the time comes closer for the birth of the child and all the things that are offered in the hospital during and after birth.

The happiness and joy that’s felt at the delivery and the excitement of taking the little one home for the very first time.

Then I think about this lady named Mary.  How difficult it must have been to be traveling on a donkey to try to get to a place for help.  I think about the labor pains she endured, not being able to rest and wondering what was happening to her.  Then to get to the Inn and find out there was no room for her and her husband there.  Somehow they find a barn to rest for the night, no other materials available for her at that time.  No bed to lay her head and no one there to assist her in the birth of her child.

Imagine a baby born, a child is born!

That is the story I know.

Merry Christmas

Thank you for allowing me to be a part of the East Hall family!  I am truly Blessed and encouraged, for this is my destiny that God has placed upon me.

I am reflecting back on watching the Georgia vs LSU football game yesterday.  Yeah, as a Bulldog fan, I was disappointed at the outcome.  Like many of the others who watched the game, some on TV and others at the stadium, there is so much expected of the members on the team in every aspect.  Perfection is expected, mistakes are frowned upon, and losing, well, is unacceptable.

I wonder how many people even stop to think that these boys are only 19-22 years old.  They are still trying to get their lives together.  But under the umbrella of competition, they are expected to do more, to be more, to display more.  Wow, that is a lot to undertake for an adult, less alone for a young man who is just starting to get his life together.

Which brings me to the point of this conversation.  Students!  Isn’t it interesting how much we expect of them on a daily basis.  No wonder they are under so much pressure.  I believe that we, as parents, have somehow now started to expect so much from our little ones that sometimes we forget that they are children.  The pressure of society and home adds to the difficult struggles that students have.  Society has made it so fast paced that children are now missing the important times of what it is like to be a child.

Students are being asked to perform task that beyond their years and brain development.  Technology has played a major part in this “child crisis” and there is no relief in sight unless there is a genuine concern to address it.

Do we not remember what it was like to be a young one in middle school.  I think of it often and realize, I was just like the students at East Hall.  I was no different.

I realize that children haven’t changed but it the aggressive society that has made us change in how we deal with children and how we must address them.  Teachers are challenged in teaching students because students are also learning from technology, TV, radio and “the streets.”

We have to be “social savvy” in the classroom in an affect to stay current with students and what they are learning.

The bottom line is “Children are still children!”  They’ve got to go through the phases of life to learn.