Pop-up Teachable Moments

Our “NEW” Toaster

About a month in a half ago our double toaster stopped working on one side. The right side lever would not go down and stay down!  Because I (Todd) am a bit  frugal (I prefer that word over cheap) I was willing to stand there and hold it down while it toasted bread or waffles for a couple of minutes each time I used it.  Although I was willing to stand there, I knew it wouldn’t be long before my wife insisted that I come up with a better solution.  I knew that I had only one of two options; either fix it or get a new one.  Then one day I saw an advertisement for a $10 used toaster on our local buy/sell trade Facebook page.  I figured we could swing the 10 bucks so we contacted the seller and made arrangements to pick it up!

We used the toaster three or four times before we realized why the seller sold the toaster to us.  This new toaster had the opposite issue as our first one!  It would not pop up on the right side, which is actually a much worse problem than the not staying down trouble we had with the previous toaster.  We found out what a big problem this really was a couple of Sundays ago.  I will let Tami share the rest of the story.

Because Todd is the Adult Ministries Pastor at church he is up and out the door pretty early on Sundays.  This leaves me with the not so small task of getting everyone up, fed, dressed and ready for church.  To make life a little simpler we implemented POP-TART Sundays at our house. Of course the kids love pop tarts (and would like to have them every day of the week) so it is a treat to have them on Sundays.  I know it’s not the healthiest choice but it is a smart choice because most of our kids can make them all by themselves! Pop-tart Sundays have been working out nicely except for one particular Sunday a couple of weeks ago when one of our younger kids used the non-popping side of the “new” toaster. She put her pop-tart in the toaster and walked away.

Of course the toaster malfunctioned and the pop tart never popped!  I was upstairs scrubbing shampoo in my hair when I heard three fast – hard knocks at the door and a frantic voice saying “MOM, MOM!  THE TOASTER IS ON FIRE!”  I could see the scene in my minds-eye and as I quickly swiped the water knob to the off  position and I gave my advise, “UN-PLUG IT!”  Just as I finish saying this all of our smoke detectors begin to sound off throughout the house.  I did my best to get out of the shower quickly.  Praying that my daughter would be able to remedy the burning toaster situation I quickly wrapped myself presentably and headed down stairs with shampoo bubbles all over my head. During all of this my oldest daughter Ashlin was in her room still relaxing in bed a few more minutes before starting her day.  She heard the commotion and sprang into action (although I didn’t know this at the time). I rounded the stairs and reached the kitchen where I found kids fanning smoke away from the fire alarm and all windows and doors were opened.  At this point I realized that Ashlin had come to the rescue.  She had run down stairs, grabbed the smoking toaster and ran it out to the back yard.  She put the toaster in the grass about 25 yards from the house and left it there to smolder.

Seeing that everything was under control I ran back up stairs to rinse out my hair and get properly dressed.  After I was ready (and once all the emotion and commotion had subsided) I gathered all the children together.  I encouraged them that they had all done a good job.  I shared that I was proud of them for not panicking and working together to handle the situation.  I also saw how this was a pop-up teachable moment where I could share a few safety tips with them and help them understand the importance of keeping their cool when there is an emergency situation.  I shared a few important points and allowed them to ask questions as well.  We all agreed that we there were a few things that we could have done differently but for the most part we had gotten a lot of things right.  In the end, I know that learning occurred and love was expressed and that is what a teachable moment is all about.

We will continue to look out for educational, relational, safety, and spiritual pop-up teachable moments with our kids and we challenge you to do the same.  Let’s just pray that they come to us all without smoke or flames and at times when we are all fully dressed!

Our NEWer Toaster

“These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

~ Deuteronomy 6:6-9 ~