Changing a negative around

School is so close to being done for another year. Yesterday I decided to put a quote in my final newsletter with the reports and then talk about it with my class. (I had read it in a blog the night before and it jumped out at me so I wrote it down.) Life is not just the 10% that happens to you, but about the 90% of how you respond to it.  

The kids came in and one girl kept complaining about being in school.  She refused to read quietly (our morning routine) even when I tempted her with a reward.  She pouted and emoted negativity through everything we did, refusing to talk in the community circle.  When I drew a pie graph to illustrate the percentages, and started listing all the things 8 and 9 year olds can't change, I made sure to include being at school when you wanted to be at the beach.   All the kids struggled to think of positive responses, so we listed many negative ones and then worked to find the opposite.  (We're wired for complaining and negativity, aren't we?  God would rather that we think of the positive so our actions will reflect his love, but it's not what comes naturally.)  

The only kids who could come up with real life examples were two girl who I know have positive family influence at home.  One has diabetes and talked about accepting it and "going with it" since she can't change it.  The other talked about being so hot at night and how her response is to wear shorts, a T-shirt and not put any covers on. Both were able to share with their peers a positive response to something they can't change.  

By the end of the day, I did give this girl a reward and told her I saw her changing her attitude around. But I'm afraid she's on her way to being a big bully at school.  Only God could have known what was needed yesterday, long before I did.  Now I can pray that all my students can start to tune into this truth over the summer months. I know I need this message too so I can respond positively to things that are not mine to change.