Sunday Jungle

Never smile at crocodile,
No, you can’t get friendly with a crocodile,
Don’t be taken in by his welcome grin,
He’s imagining how well you’d fit within his skin.

Roughly translated, this song is saying: Avoid becoming a primary teacher at all costs.

Sure, those kids come in with their pretty dresses, cute little mini-man suits and their hair all done nicely. For the first few weeks they allow you to get comfy, maybe even feel like you’re making some progress in teaching them.

But, what they’re really doing is lurking in the muddy waters of misbehavior waiting to strike when you turn your back.

The other day I described my job in the primary as being a bouncer.

The odd thing is that I’m enjoying it. Maybe I’m the Primary Crocodile Hunter. I love the rush of seeing how close I can get without actually allowing them to win. I live for the look of disappointment on their freshly scrubbed faces when they realize that they haven’t gotten the best of me yet.

No, primary isn’t really about teaching children. It’s more about survival of the fittest. I feel like I train all week at home with my kids, and then I go to the primary jungle on Sundays and test out my new skills.

So far, we’re neck and neck. Some weeks the crocs win and I’m back to the drawing board. Some weeks I win and they go home with their tails between their legs.

But, no matter who wins, at the end of the lesson I pull out some Reese’s Peanut Butter cups and we regroup before going in to Sharing Time. After all, Sharing Time is a whole new ball game and we need to get our strategy down. Who knows what kind of animals we’ll find in there!