As the School Year Begins, I Have a Small Request…
Before the backpacks are packed and the alarms start ringing again, I’d like to ask you for just five minutes of your time.
Sit with your child. Talk to them — not about homework or grades, but about kindness.
Explain to them that no one should ever be made fun of for how they look, where they live, what they wear, or the things they love.
Let them know that wearing the same pair of shoes every day is perfectly okay.
That a worn backpack carries just as many hopes and dreams as a brand-new one.
That being different isn’t something to be judged — it’s something to be respected.
Teach them that school isn’t a place for cruelty, comparisons, or cliques.
It’s a place to learn, to grow, and to treat others with empathy.
Remind them that some classmates may go home to silence, not support.
That their kindness could be the brightest part of someone else’s day.
Let them know: It starts with them.
But more importantly, it starts with us — at home.
Let’s raise kids who lift each other up.
Weird World
My Commentary:
As a new school year begins, we naturally think about backpacks, pencils, schedules, teachers, and grades. But perhaps the most important preparation for school cannot be purchased in a store.
It is kindness.
Before children walk into their classrooms, we should remind them that every child they meet is carrying a story they cannot see. The student wearing the same shoes every day may have parents struggling to pay the rent. The child who sits alone at lunch may go home to an empty house. The classmate who seems different may simply be praying that someone will accept them.
Jesus gave us a wonderfully simple rule: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Imagine what our schools would look like if every child carried those words in their backpack.
Jesus never divided people into the popular and unpopular, rich and poor, winners and losers. He noticed the person standing alone. He welcomed the outsider. He defended the rejected. He taught us that every human being possesses dignity because every person is a child of God.
Children learn that lesson first at home. They listen to how adults speak about neighbors, strangers, people who are different, and those with whom we disagree. Our example becomes their education.
I remember a parent coming to me because his teenage son was getting angry all the time. I listened patiently to the long list of his son’s angry outbursts. Then I simply asked, “Who did your son learn from to show such anger?”
“Me,” he replied.
Grades matter. Achievement matters. Education matters.
But character matters more.
Someday our children may forget algebra equations, historical dates, and vocabulary words. But they may never forget the classmate who sat beside them when nobody else would.
So before the first school bell rings, teach one lesson above all others:
See the person who is alone.
Choose kindness.
Include someone.
Be the reason another child goes home believing tomorrow might be better.
That is more than good education.
That is the Gospel lived out in a school hallway.
What makes YOU fearful about having such a discussion with your children and your grandchildren?
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