Muffins with Mom – When the student becomes the teacher

A teachable moment

 

I stood behind them in quiet observation. My son  leaned over near his vehicle’s tire,  explaining to his dad, how he realized the tire needed attention. Their voices were muffled, but the gestures and body movements played like a silent movie as I looked on.

Have you ever wondered whether you child has listened to the lessons you tried to teach them? As my children grew through the stages of learning and developing, there were times when they made me question my sanity (that’s when I leaned on faith). Today when I watch them silently, and listen to the things they say, I know they have learned many lessons.

If I’m being completely honest, there are many times I learn lessons from my sons. There are days when I’m excited to learn something new, then there are days when I fight change. For instance, I don’t like upgrading my cell phone. My son said, “A new phone has so many features that you can use for your blog and writing.”

“That’s okay, I’m just getting comfortable with the features on the phone I’ve had for two years.”

My son finally convinced me to get a new phone, one that was outside of my technology skillset. “I’ll help you get it set up,” he said. And he did.

It was the middle of the night (10pm) as he to coach me through various features of the phone. “Do you want to set up face recognition for unlocking your phone?”

“Sure, why not” I said.

“Take off your glasses and follow the directions.”

I did as my son instructed, I removed my glasses, and stared at my reflection in the phone…and screamed with my eyes. My hair bonnet was perched on my head, the collar of my warm fleece housecoat was prevalent, and there appeared to be dark circles under my eyes. I moved my head up, down, and side to side as the arrows on the phone directed me.

My son fiddled with his phone as he waited for me to complete the task he had given to me. I interrupted his focus. “Um, I don’t think this facial recognition is going to recognize me tomorrow.”

As I learn to do different things with technology, my son learns to be patient. As you age remember, you’re never too old to learn something new; And it’s okay that the student becomes the teacher.

What is one thing that you have learned recently?