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Lesson Learned On A School Bus

March 14, 2022 John Uncategorized No comments

Often the most important lessons you learn are outside of the classroom? And they can double as stories you tell again and again throughout your life.

Today via GenuLines I share one of those with you.

Lesson Learned On A School Bus

It was sort of a side hustle. A job that would back up another job that would fund my college tuition.

I was a 22 year old school bus driver.

Most of my driving consisted of extra curricular activities and outings. One of those involved a field trip for kids from an inner city school in Pittsburgh.

Off we go

This group was like most. Talking, laughing, happy for a break from their stuffy classrooms.

We headed for the park and its wide open spaces. As I wheeled toward the entrance there was an anticipation that was palpable.

Everyone piled out of the vehicle full of happy expectation- with one exception.

The boy

He stayed in his seat, saying nothing and sort of staring into space. I wondered why he wanted to stay inside and miss a chance to enjoy the day with his friends.

I made an attempt to open him up a bit. It didn’t do much good.

He mumbled his responses and I couldn’t make them out. I did convince him to get up and go outside and I was sure he was going to run to catch up with the group.

But he didn’t.

He stood there in the same quiet state that kept him entranced during the ride. I thought the best thing for me to do was go back inside the bus and leave him to his thoughts.

But after a minute or so I heard, and felt, a loud bang on the side of the bus. Then there was another.

Ready, aim..

Outside the bus I saw this boy picking up chunks of dried mud from the parking lot. He was breaking off pieces and throwing them at the bus.

And I mean throwing them with a gusto a major league baseball scout would have admired.

This time I thought it best to get him back to his seat and away from any people who might be in the area. And now I questioned him in a more persistent way.

But his answers didn’t shed any light on why he would target a 72 passenger bus for a shelling. I did manage to keep him engaged in conversation.

And then the talk switched to movies.

Scene and heard

He volunteered that he had recently seen the movie Jaws. As he took me through the scenes of the movie he became more upbeat and animated.

I hadn’t yet seen the movie. But I didn’t mind hearing about the final scene without a spoiler alert.

The rest of the kids came back from their visit and we headed back to the school. I felt glad that I could diffuse the situation.

But I started to wonder what kind of a life this boy might be going back to.

Is he ignored in a dysfunctional house? Do his needs go unmet?

Is he a victim of violence?

Learning curve

Would this experience change the boy’s life? Probably not.

But it taught the driver the importance of listening and caring. And that lesson would never show up on a college syllabus.

JohnK 3-14-2022

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Overheard: “Some people come in our life as blessings. Some come in your life as lessons.”

~Mother Teresa

You Can Teach Your Children How to Eat Healthier

September 27, 2021 John Uncategorized No comments

Children tend to have eating habits that are all over the place. They eat what delights the eyes, but their stomachs often pay the price.

Take a look at these GenuLines tips designed to get the kids on board with healthy eating.

You Can Teach Your Children How to Eat Healthier

One of the leading causes of childhood obesity is poor food choices. Offer kids either vegetables or a cookie and most will choose the cookie.

Admit it, sometimes even adults do the same thing! But, with a few strategic lessons good role modeling, you can teach your children to put health first.

Here are some ideas:

* Help them learn to like healthy foods

Forcing kids to eat vegetables and whole grains gets met with resistance. Instead of preparing a plate of lima beans and telling your children to eat it all, give them a choice.

Prepare a variety of vegetables, side dishes, and whole-grain options. Encourage your children to try new things.

Children generally have to try something several times before they begin to like it. You will have to be patient. Reward them with verbal praise when they try new healthy foods.

If they say they don’t like it, nod your head and praise them for trying it. Let them know that taste buds change and they might like it better next time or as they get a bit older.

* Make sugar a treat

Many children have become so accustomed to sweet foods. A lot of them feel that anything that doesn’t have sugar just tastes bad.

If your kids eat a lot of sweets, scale back on the amount they have available to them. Start with one treat a day and at some point consider reducing it to one treat a week.

Yet, make sure that food doesn’t become a reward for behavior. And don’t forget to check things like cereal which can be high in sugar.

Your children’s desire for sweets will decrease. And they’ll begin enjoying a variety of other healthy foods.

* Involve them in meal planning and preparation

Children who help you prepare a meal, are going to be much more excited about eating it. Invite yours to help you choose meals, help with the grocery shopping, and then prepare the foods.

While in the produce area, ask them to find and pick out the various vegetables and fruits you need for the meal. They’ll learn about their veggies, and they’ll be more excited to try them.

Consider putting them in charge of the meal choices for one evening each week. You can provide them with a list of choices. You can also browse cookbooks together.

* Be a good role model

You can’t expect your children to make healthy choices if you don’t. Take good care of your health.

Exercise and eat well. Show the kids that taking care of themselves and making good food choices is important.

* Embrace other cultures

A great way to help your children appreciate food is to help them learn about what other cultures eat. You can embrace one country each month and make a meal.

You can call it “cultural night.” Combine it with family game night, and make trying new foods something to which you can look forwards.

* Teach your children the “why” behind food choices

If your children don’t know why they should make healthy choices, they won’t care. Talk to them about how some foods work.

Some provide lasting energy, while others burn out quickly and make us feel tired and cranky.

Adjust the conversation depending on your children’s ages.

Finally, just enjoy food, because it’s so easy to get caught in the trap of being too rigid about food. This can cause a backlash.

It can motivate children to hide food and to feel ashamed. Make sure children know that it’s about moderation, not restriction and deprivation.

This will lead to a happy relationship with food that they can take into their adult years.

JohnK 9-27-2021

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Overheard: “Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food.”

~Hippocrates

Your Children May Not Trust Themselves

October 8, 2019 John Uncategorized No comments

You say you don’t trust yourself? Did you know that the same feelings can filter down to your kids too?

Your Children May Not Trust Themselves

Lack of self-trust is far from uncommon. It’s possible that you developed this tendency while you were growing up.

You can pick it up as a kid and carry it into your adult life. You pass it on to your kids, and they do the same to theirs.

Your actions and exchanges may be subtle. Your kids will hear what you and your spouse talk about as well as discussions by, or with, other family members.

You may well do things that you’re not even aware of, but your kids will pick up on those, too.

It’s a difficult situation because you want your kids to be safe. But you don’t want to suggest that they give a pass to everyone without question.

A delicate balance

Trusting yourself requires trusting others. That’s where the difficulty can creep in.

You’ve likely been burned by a few people enough times to warrant your caution. But, these experiences can also resonate with your children.

Aim for a balance. You want them to trust certain people while remaining mindful through the process.

Of course, you want to teach your kids always to be trustworthy themselves, even if others don’t respond in kind.

Minus that, self-trust will be near impossible.

If they let others down, they won’t have any reason to develop an internal trust. So you and your partner will want to doublecheck your own trustworthiness.

You may be trustworthy toward kids but not to other people. That can send the wrong signals to kids if you tell them they should be trustworthy to others.

It will leave them confused and unsure of what to do. In the long run, they’ll be untrustworthy, and they won’t develop self-trust.

Be sure to talk to your kids to help them develop the balance between caution and trust. If they have questions, be open to answering them.

Try not to take offense if they say you’re sending mixed signals with regards to trust. Find a balance and your kids will likely find it too.

Your family will have the necessary means to trust each other and yourselves. It’s not easy, but it’s definitely worth the effort.

You just have to keep at it.

JohnK 1-8-2019

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Overheard: “Learning to trust is one of life’s most difficult tasks.”

~Isaac Watts

Teaching Kids to Deal with Adversity

June 4, 2019 John Uncategorized No comments

Parents want to shelter their kids from adversity as much as possible. They see the world as dangerous, and going into protection mode is understandable.

But kids need to learn how to deal with adversity. Sheltering them can prevent this from happening.

Below are some GenuLines suggestions for showing kids the way through adversity.

Teaching Kids to Deal with Adversity

Can you teach kids about the difficulties ahead of them? It’s a delicate balance between knowing what to tell them and what to keep from them.

After all, many societies use movie rating systems to limit certain children’s viewing.

But they learn a lot from older siblings. And they learn from classmates in school (who also have older siblings).

They also take cues from parents who let profanities slip out, as hard as they try not to.

ids know more than we give them credit for, and they can handle much more than we want to believe. They watch the news and see stories of violence, terrorism, and other horrific events.

Even if you keep them from watching, they hear about the events in school. There is simply no way around it.

When kids know they can talk to their parents, they can handle most situations. It’s better to learn from the source, i.e., parents, rather than from outside sources such as friends.

Chances are the information from friends is not reliable. That’s one reason kids tell outrageous stories when they get home from school.

To help kids deal with adversity, be sure the set the stage for their behavior. If you lose it during your own challenges you can be certain they’ll do the same.

Stay as calm as possible and look for solutions. The kids will take your lead on this behavior as well.

Kids should also learn to help others at an early age. This way, they won’t be afraid to rely on others when they need help.

When they get older, they may be willing to reach out to friends or family members. Of course, they should try to take care of certain situations on their own before reaching out.

Again, it’s a delicate balance and a learning process.

Every family situation is different. Each may call for different ways of handling them.

The variety makes a step-by-step process tough if even possible. Early exposure to life’s situations is key.

This will pay dividends for them when they’re adults.

JohnK 6-4-2019

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Overheard: “The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.”

~ Chinese Proverb

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Tag Archive for kids problems

Lesson Learned On A School Bus