Good ole Connor

One of the best callings (assignment in church) that B and I have ever received was team teaching a Sunday School group of 5-7 year olds. It was our first assignment after just being married. It was ongoing entertainment and helped us realize how we thought we wanted and didn't want our children to end up. And of course, we thought we had TOTAL control over that. :) And though we had our spiritual moments, it was more comic relief than anything. Thanks to Connor. I can see how that boy made his mother tired. And I only had him for 2 hours in the week. I know you aren't supposed to admit to having favorites, but he was mine. There are MANY reasons for that.

1. He recited the second article of faith like this: "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's train fishing." He said it dead pan. Serious. Proud even. We nodded our heads and were waiting for giggling from the others. Nope. After church we told his mom and dad what he said and their response shocked us, "You didn't correct him did you?!??" They didn't want him to know the right way. Not yet. I thought they were crazy, lazy parents. Now I TOTALLY understand. I want to punch the lady at Disneyworld who taught my daughter that the Indian Princess is not Hocapontas, but Pocahontas.

2. One day Connor came in and told us how his brother is "sooo anoooying" because he makes him mess up when he is playing video games. We thought he was too young to play video games and made a mental note that we would NEVER let our 6 year old play video games. I bet my 4 year old could wipe the floor with Connor in Super Mario Bros and Wii Sports.

3.  Connor was the first one with his hand up, most of the time he would respond with something not even close to the right answer, but then days that we thought he wasn't listening at all, he would be the one who had all the answers. He floored B and I one day when B was teaching about how much Jesus loves us. Connor raised his hand and without being called on he made a profound analogy. "The sun is hot as Jesus is good." B's mouth hung open a little longer than what is comfortable. I couldn't believe that kids could be that profound. It was more of an epiphany. Awesome.

4. We are now aware that our kids' primary teachers probably know more about us that we ever want them to know. We got all the good dirt from our little kiddos in class.

   Me: What does your family like to do together?
   Connor: My parents like to take showers together.
   Me: (head nodding and trying not to look at B who is stifling a laugh) Okay. Anyone else?
   Maley: My parents get to play games in their room at night and don't ever let us play.
   B: Next question.

5. B was teaching and asked, "What do you have to do to return to our Heavenly Father?" Each kid, in turn, said things like, "read your scriptures," "say your prayers," and "love one another," but every time a child would say an answer Connor looked more and more shocked and would slap his forehead like they were saying the dumbest thing in the world. Finally, it was Connor's turn. He looked at B, shook his head, and said, "Well, ya gotta die! Duh!" Well played Connor. Well played.

6. Connor strutted into class one day and announced that he was, yes, a human fly and that we could try and swat him if we wanted to. And we did. We then tried to convince him that he had to be a QUIET human fly, so through the whole two hours we heard an almost inaudible buzzing sound.

7. Connor was usually a tough kid in class, but he was also sooo cool. There was one day that we noticed that he didn't use anything as a gun and shoot his classmates, he didn't make any inappropriate sounds during sharing time, he only pretended to fall out of his chair once, and didn't hurt anyone in the class, so I called his mom on the phone to tell her how awesome Connor was in class that day and the line went silent. She was crying. The only thing she could manage to get out was, "Thank you so much for telling me. He has had such a hard time in school and we have been talking to a behavior specialist. No one has ever called to tell us anything positive about Connor before." Then she just kept saying "thank you" over and over again. This taught me to write positive notes or mention the good things that kids do to their parents. You can leave out the bad every once in a while. And can you believe it? From then on, Connor got even better because he knew that we would report on how good he was. It taught me that kids will rise to what they are labeled. If you keep telling them that they are bad, they will only rise to your expectations.

8. Bathroom time in between class and sharing time was taking a little long one Sunday. Just as B was going to check on Connor, he came out with a huge smile on his face, and all his clothes on backwards. Even his underwear (we took his word for it) and shoes. He just tied the laces over his feet. He then asked me to put his tie back on because "he didn't have eyes on the back of his head." We laughed, but the Primary Presidency called for reinforcements (his parents) and got most of his clothes back to normal. Connor sat the whole sharing time with his arms folded tight and eyebrows furrowed until B reached his hand over to Connor and moved his tie to the back of his shirt. (It was a clip on.) Connor looked at B with surprise, B winked and gestured "shhh." Connor beamed and sat up tall, now ready to learn. I never loved B more than I did that day. I knew he would make a great daddy. I learned to choose your battles and to compromise.

There were MANY more reasons. I wish I remembered more. . . I wonder what Connor is like today.