The Power Of A Smile

Yesterday, I was a substitute teacher for several classes of 6th graders. Since then, I've been racking my brain for reasons why the students made statements like these as they entered my classroom:

"Oh good, it's you!"
"We like you, you're nice!"
"YES! A nice sub!"

Now before you get jealous or think I'm bragging, know this: earlier the same morning, my own 6th grader who attends the same school pleaded, "Please pretend like you don't know me today, Mom."

For all of you preschool and early-elementary moms out there, brace yourselves. You may make your child proud being the PTO president of her school, and your child may beam with excitement when you visit her at lunch now, but those glory days do end. When they do, tuck back this hard-learned, important bit of advice about raising teens: don't take their comments personally. It's not you. It really isn't.

So how could I be such a hit with this group of 6th grade students? It certainly wasn't because of my amazing teaching skills, quick wit, or fabulous lesson plan. In fact, they were following rather routine tasks for the day, including reading a book that didn't seem of interest to any of them. I surmised that perhaps their acceptance of me, (besides the fact that I wasn't their mom, of course!), was due to my acceptance of them. One of our greatest needs is to be accepted, and one of the easiest ways to convey that is by smiling.

My parents taught me the power of a smile, and somewhere I embraced the truth that a smile is one of the best gifts you can give someone. Everyone deserves to be smiled at, but I truly can't think of a group of people who need a smile more than teenagers.

When the students entered the room, I smiled. As I spoke to them, I smiled. When they glanced up from their reading, I smiled. Even when I asked them to quiet down, or reminded them what it means to be respectful, I smiled. And as they exited the room, I smiled and wished them well.

Just as a teacher has an influence over her classroom, as a wife and mom and family manager, I certainly have an influence over my home. In fact, as they say, I set the tone. What power I wield! So I decided today to make a conscious effort to smile more often, especially at home. Smile when my son or daughter look at me. Smile when I talk to them. Smile when they talk to me. Smile when my husband comes home from work or enters the room I'm in. And yes, even smile when my teens remind me what a potential embarrassment I am to them...knowing that I will indeed have the last laugh, God willing, when they parent kids of their own.

After all, a smile doesn't cost a thing.

"A cheerful heart is good medicine." Proverbs 17:22

Grace and Truth,
Katrina