THE AGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY

These kids are my students in CTR 3 in the Primary Class in Church. Selah and James are 5 years old and Amelia and Jorden are 4.

Last Sunday, we talked about The Age of Accountability, of which I taught them that when they have grown enough and learned about right and wrong, they become accountable for what they do. I explained that being accountable means taking responsibility for what they do wrong and be blessed for what they do right. Part of the lesson was for me to bring an item and give them to take good care of. I brought a container of biscuits and placed it in the middle of the table. My instruction was the biscuits were there for us to eat later but they must take good care of it so one will take or open and eat the biscuits. It's quarter past 12noon and I know they're all hungry. I told them that if they were able to take care of it the whole time during the lesson (that ends 1pm), they can have additional cheese sticks for their treat. It was a difficult time for me because they were restless and hungry and wanted to open the tin can biscuit container. 

As we went along with the lesson, Amelia (in pink) grabbed the container and placed it near the edge of the table that it almost fell. I reminded the kids that if that thing fell, Amelia has to answer and take full responsibility of her action and as a consequence, they won't have treat later. She slowly put it back to the center of table where it'll be safer. We did activities and had them write CTR on their notebooks. CTR means Choose The Right. The whole time, they were tempted to open the container. Selah said "can I open it? I just want to see what's inside!" I said, "well, it's all up to you. I already said the instructions and you're free to do what you want" and remind them again of the word ACCOUNTABILITY and being responsible. She didn't insist further. After the lesson, the biscuit abd the cheese sticks were still there unopened. I congratulated the four of them for having been responsible (and patient) enough that it stayed there safe the whole time. As a reward, they got biscuits and cheese sticks for a treat after the class. 

I secretly admired how these kids understood the whole context of the lesson. It maybe simple to us, adults but to them who struggled much to take care of something and achieved the very purpose of the lesson, it was a sweet victory of taking responsibility and accountability and savoring the consequences of having both treats after giving heed to the instructions. 

Sometimes, most adults forget accountability. Some act on the basis that they are free but neglected to take responsibility. Some thought that it's okay to sin and repent later. Little did they know that we maybe free to do things on our own but we will never be free of the consequences of the action we did wrong. The best part to doing right, however is that, there'll be blessings. It may be immediate, it may come late but it surely will come. 

The best part of the lesson was that it's me who learned! I have relearned these principles of the Gospel. And as I go along teaching the primary class, it's me who have been learning, enjoying and getting the love from my students. These kids and the whole class were blessings!

Amelia and I on a Sunday afternoon