Mrs. Luhrs,
Good morning. I just wanted to let you know about a situation that happened yesterday involving Quentin. I apologize for not emailing you yesterday, but I was in a meeting from 3-4. I hope this explanation makes sense! While working, I was playing Christmas music. One of the lyrics said something about a king. Apparently, someone at Quentin's table asked who the king was, and another student responded "Jesus Christ". While trying to say the name, apparently the student messed up the words a bit. Quentin thought that she was making fun of Jesus, and got very upset. The student wasn't trying to be disrespectful. Then, another child at his table came up to me and said "Quentin said a bad word." Immediately, Quentin started crying. I had him come up to my desk and take a deep breath so I could talk to him about what happened. He just kept saying "I didn't mean to". From what I could understand about the situation, Quentin became angry when he thought the other child was purposely messing up the name, and he admitted to saying "Hell". I'm not sure the context of the word (I couldn't really get a full story because Quentin was so upset). I'm not sure if he said anything to you about it or not. I just told him that the other child wasn't trying to be disrespectful because it was an accident. He said "I know. I just got angry" I also explained that although church and religion are very important, we usually share those things with our friends and family and not within school since other students may not believe similiar things. I think it was just a situation where Quentin got very upset because he felt that another child was making fun of something that is so important to him and your family. I don't think he meant to say the word-it probably just came out because he was angry? If he said anything, or if you talk to him and get any other explanation, please feel free to share! I don't want to make it into a big deal. I just wanted Quentin to understand that the other child wasn't meaning to be disrespectful. Thanks for your help with this. I hope that you have a great weekend!
I have to admit that I am extremely proud of my son. 1) The only "swear" word that came out of his mouth was "hell" 2) for being this passionate about his faith. I do realize that there is a time and place for everything and school is not the proper setting to have a full on faith-based discussion... but the situation was set up for that a little.
After I received the email, I asked Quentin to come in to the kitchen with me because I needed to talk about something with him. I asked him to tell me about what happened and he did. He also explained that he did not realize that "hell" was a bad word. He said that the student was trying to make fun of Jesus Christ (though they told their teacher they weren't) and that really upset him.
I then had to try to explain the difference between church and school... I found this to be very difficult to do. I don't want him to feel like he has to hide his faith but I also don't want him shoving our beliefs down someone else's throat. So... I said, "we believe in Jesus Christ and that He is our Savior. That is a wonderful gift that we have but there are people who do not believe in the same things that we do. It is one more way that people are different and that is okay! Some people have blonde hair and blue eyes, some people have brown hair and green eyes. Just like some people like the Giants but some people are horribly misguided and like the Eagles. It is what makes us different." He giggled, of course and was very accepting of my explanation. He then said, "okay, I won't talk about Jesus in school anymore, I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. I will just keep it for me." Which I thought was extremely profound for a 7 year old boy.
I now find myself a little resentful that I have to make my son feel like he did something wrong, when he didn't. I am very proud of the fact that Quentin has such passion for his faith. I only hope that this does not make him feel like he should hide who he is because he is AMAZING.
