And today...

Today I had the class paint. I covered all the desks so that we would not make a mess... The paint did not spill on the floor once, it spilled on the floor twice, dark blue paint. subHan Allah, and when the shaykh came in to take over the class, only two of the students were done and I was cleaning the floor. -sigh- He was kind enough to give me 10 more minutes to finish up with them, barak Allahu fi, I really appreciated his mercy on me. subHan Allah, I'm blessed with people around me who are very kind, and may Allah in return bestow kindness onto them.

Also, a parent brought a cake to the class and did a birthday celebration for her son. She had the class sing happy birthday and she asked if she could light the candle. I just let her do as she wished, no candle lighting though. Khayr, I'm too easy going with people, I'm just too easy. I wish I could have the strength to set up more boundaries, ya Rab.

Today for some reason I was irritated, I think people should be shepherds before they teach, this job is very demanding and requires an incredible amount of patience. They were being silly today, and I had to be firm with them, I laid down the consequences... but really it's my fault they don't listen sometimes (for the most part they're excellent, just sometimes they get rowdy). I give too many chances. I'll tell one child, okay you lost 5 minutes of your play time, and then he will say something like, "teacher, please, i'll be good, i'll be good." Then I will say something like, "okay, i'm giving you one more chance, prove to me you'll be good." ... and I do that so often, I need to stop. I'm known for being the "nice" teacher, but "nice" has to include "fair" too, fair to myself and the others in the classroom.

subHan Allah, little by little I find my personality changing in ways. I feel stronger these days, but every now and then my weaknesses come out. I need to be more firm, even though I hate it. May Allah help me. Amin.

May Allah give ease to all those who are dealing with finals too, that requires much patience as well.