Painful Words

Tonight we went to the kids' school for a "Block Party". It was lots of fun. Food, play time on the playground, checking out classrooms. Overall good time. But there was an incident that made me sad. My kids are little politicians and know everyone's names in the whole little school. I really am not kidding or exagerating. Its comical, really. They say "hi" to everyone and call them by name. *Keep in mind, MOST children there tonight are somehow disabled or have special needs of some form or fashion. * So we walk by a family and Braylen says "That's Oscar. He's NOT nice." Loudly. I know his mother heard. I am not sure she speaks English, but I was MORTIFIED. Oscar doesn't appear to have any language at all. He screams alot. He climbs the walls....literally. He was scaling a 6 foot fence, a tall tree....he even climbed on the ROOF of the playground equipment--probably 9 feet off the ground. (not good). His parents looked helpless to control him. He does scream a lot, and from a 5 year-old view, he probably seems unkind. Just the same, I do not want my kids acting that way or saying hateful things, as it leads to bullying, and truth be told, they could be the recipient as easy as anyone. So we had to have a "Come to Jesus" conversation. I reprimanded him loud enough for Oscar's mom to hear me, then pulled him aside for another, more specific conversation. I wasn't angry, but wanted him to know that he must NOT say things like that. I made him go say "Hello" to Oscar. Then tonight before prayers, we re-visited the subject. His ability to understand "special needs" is limited. Keep in mind, my kids have no idea that they are not normal. Braylen has no clue (far as I know) that his siblings have special needs, or disabilities. So no frame of reference there. I fumbled around with it, but I tried to make it make sense for him. I told him to ALWAYS speak to Oscar and tried to help him understand that Oscar does the best he can. It's just very hard for him to stay calm, but he tries really hard. I pray that some of that message sunk in. Lord, please let my children grow up to be kind, and compassionate to all people, especially the ones who have to fight harder just to get by.