Who says flattery will get you nowhere?

When I was in high school I had plenty of teachers who would utter the phrase "Flattery will get you nowhere." quite often. Let's just say that I'm a born wheeler and dealer and I'll work every angle I can to get what I want. It actually works most of the time, but still, people tell you it doesn't work. I think it works. It worked on me to a degree today.

I had about twenty minutes of silence this morning and I had full intentions of using that time for a higher purpose [praying the rosary]. About a minute into my twenty minutes of peaceful silence, the phone rang. I didn't recognize the name on the caller id, but something made me answer the phone. Turns out the religious ed director had given my name and number to the coordinator for the 11:15 CCD classes. She took on the task of substituting for the kindergarten CCD class this coming Sunday and was at a total loss for what she needed to do. In conversation with this very nice woman, she told me that the DRE suggested that she call me because I was really good at what I do. Honestly, I'm not sure where she got that. I don't think the deacon or the DRE (that's the deacon's wife) have ever observed my class , so other than the coloring pages I have them copy for my class, they have no idea what I do with my class. (I suppose it's possible they could have peeked in my class without me realizing it.) I could be teaching them how to perfect the art of spitballing for all they know. (I assure you I'm not.) Anyway, I was flattered that the DRE spoke so highly of me.

So as I talked to this very nice woman who has been losing sleep over teaching this one class, I decided that I could offer her more than just a little guidance on how to teach the class. I decided to write up a lesson plan for her [for a chapter that I had decided to skip for my own class]. She expressed concern that she would finish the chapter well before Mass was over and wasn't sure how she'd fill the void. So I told her I could give her a few coloring pages to copy for the class and suggested that she pick a Bible story to read during the class (a favorite time filler of mine). She had no idea how many kids were in the class, but I got her to check with our DRE and get a number. The mother of the twins in my class gave me a very generous gift card two weeks ago to buy crafts for my class. Since I usually buy the crafts when they're on sale or with a 50% off coupon, I know I'll have enough to cover at least 12 crafts for my class [in addition to the plethora of crafts I purchased over the Summer]. The nice thing about the craft kits I buy is they usually have enough for 23-30 children and given that my class only has 8 students [9 if we count the child who has never shown up], I wind up with lots of extras. I figured the least I could do was help this woman out and offer her a craft to keep the kids busy. I just have to say that I was shocked when she called me back and told me there are 16 kids in that one class. We could combine both 9:15 kindergarten classes and still have a smaller class. I never dreamed that the 11:15 Sunday time slot would be more popular with the parents. Personally, I'd rather get CCD done early and enjoy the rest of the day doing family things.

Despite the fact that I had to construct a lesson plan and take time out of my afternoon, I'm really happy that I was able to help. Tomorrow I'll be meeting her at the parish office to go over the lesson plan and the craft I put together for the class. It helped keep me from worrying about Bryan's upcoming flights home. Now that he's getting ready to take off, I have plenty of time to worry for his safety.