A Teaching Moment: Lessons from Columbine

This was the mood in our family Monday night. Unfortunately, I was dealing with a 13 year old and a 9 year old. Somehow, it wasn’t as cute.

Jessica had been grounded earlier in the evening and she was making sure that we all knew how unhappy she was. The two kids were fighting at the dinner table. I think Jonathan decided to dish out some advice on obedience. As you can imagine, this didn’t sit well with Jess. The next thing I knew, I had two disgruntled children making everyone’s life miserable.

I came to the realization that I had planned a Family Home Evening and it was looking like a disaster. They were a somewhat captive audience at the dinner table, so I decided to work FHE around dinner. I knew I couldn’t pull off what I had planned. Instead, I grabbed a New Era (a church magazine for youth) from the kitchen counter. I try to keep the latest magazine on our counter, so that I can take advantage of the time that we have at the dinner table. Of course, it was September’s issue and I wasn’t having any luck finding an article that we hadn’t already read. I finally found one, but didn’t even look to see what it was about. I just announced that we were going to have a prayer and read from the New Era. As they moved to get their arms in folding position, I heard lots of grumbling.

When I looked down to start reading, I realized that the article was about the Columbine shootings. I knew that Jess was very knowledgeable on this subject. Her school has taken part in an initiative called Rachel’s Challenge. (Rachel Scott was the first person to be killed in the shootings.) This initiative is very near and dear to her heart. Jonathan surprised me when he let me know that he had seen a video at school about Rachel Scott. Both kids were visibly touched by the Columbine story, which was told by a survivor. Afterwards, I asked Jess to share her feelings about Columbine and Rachel Scott. She cried as she told me of Rachel’s kindness. Jonathan shared his feelings about Rachel, as well. I asked Jonathan how he felt. He answered that he felt good and warm inside. It was nice to have that moment where I could remind him that he was feeling the Spirit. I think sometimes he doesn’t slow down long enough to feel it.

I am so thankful that I was able to figure out a way to pull a Family Home Evening off (even though it wasn’t what we had planned). It completely changed the attitude and demeanor of each family member.