Hello,<\/p>\n
Your website is great and very helpful.<\/p>\n
My question is about my niece, who is 10 years old. She has had a sudden change in her personality in school, Sunday school, and at home. She has become critical of everybody and is commenting on everything, so as to make people around her laugh. Of late she is making fun irrespective of the person’s age and is distracting everybody in Sunday school. I\u00a0 believe she is has made friendships that are not right (worldly people) and is trying to be like them. I don’t know what to do without hurting her publicly, especially in Sunday school since I’m the Sunday school teacher.<\/p>\n
Please help.<\/p>\n\t
My suspicion is that your niece has always had a critical streak, but everyone found it cute in a small child. She got laughs from it, so she believes people like it and it makes her popular. But now that she has reached the preteen years, her remarks are more cutting and she doesn’t show any restraint.<\/p>\n
On your end, you want to correct her without making her feel bad, which is not possible. Paul had to scold the Corinthians when they were misbehaving. “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing<\/em>” (II Corinthians 7:9). Real change doesn’t take place until a person realizes that their current behavior is wrong and regrets it.<\/p>\n When she makes a cutting remark, tell her that unsolicited opinions are not appreciated. Point out that she is injuring another person’s feelings solely to get a cheap laugh. If you are quick on your feet, I’ve sometimes taken a teenager’s clever remark and turn it back on the teenager. That may involve a few exchanges before it dawns on the teenager that what he gives out to others doesn’t feel so good when applied to himself. “Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes<\/em>” (Proverbs 26:5). If all else fails, take her to one of her parents, right in the middle of class and tell the parent that she is disrupting class, and then tell your niece you look forward to seeing her next week in class.<\/p>\n\t Thank you, sir, for your prompt reply. I’ll definitely do what you have told me and I’ll let you know the response.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hello, Your website is great and very helpful. My question is about my niece, who is 10 years old. She has had a sudden change in her personality in school, Sunday school, and at home. She has become critical of everybody and is commenting on everything, so as to make people around her laugh.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20,1028,1032],"tags":[665,794,29,107,451],"class_list":["post-38514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","category-parenting","category-preteen","tag-child-rearing","tag-criticism","tag-parenting","tag-raising-children","tag-teaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":33263,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-for-a-woman-to-be-over-a-sunday-school-department-so-long-as-the-preacher-over-her-is-a-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":38514,"position":0},"title":"Is it right for a woman to be over a Sunday school department so long as the preacher over her is a man?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thanks for your many great posts on these subjects. I greatly appreciate the resource. Do you believe it is proper to have a woman over a Sunday school department? The preacher says it's OK due to the fact that he is over her ultimately, but I don't buy this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21302,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-thirteen-year-old-daughter-isnt-listening-to-me-like-she-used-to-do-what-should-be-my-next-step\/","url_meta":{"origin":38514,"position":1},"title":"My thirteen-year-old daughter isn’t listening to me like she used to do. What should be my next step?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello. I am a single mother (I divorced 3 years ago, unfortunately). I have a daughter who is 13. I had a question regarding parenting: In the past, my ex-husband and I had a more lenient parenting style. We taught our daughter all the values of the Bible and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adolescence"","block_context":{"text":"Adolescence","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/parenting\/adolescence\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17766,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-using-some-of-your-pictures-in-my-sunday-school-class\/","url_meta":{"origin":38514,"position":2},"title":"I’m using some of your pictures in my Sunday school class","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I do appreciate free pictures you hold on your web site, I have printed out some of them to teach. I am a Christian and have served as a teacher of Sunday school for children for 15 years. In Japan, a church's membership is 30-50 people or less. To\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50145,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-circumcision-necessary\/","url_meta":{"origin":38514,"position":3},"title":"Is circumcision necessary?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you consider male circumcision a necessary intervention in life - young or old? I only ask because some Christian denominations believe so. I was circumcised as an adult. I only ask for your guidance. I accept that Jesus was circumcised. It was my Sunday School teacher who broached\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20136,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-get-my-parents-to-see-that-they-are-enabling-my-sister-to-be-a-drug-user\/","url_meta":{"origin":38514,"position":4},"title":"How do I get my parents to see that they are enabling my sister to be a drug user?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This question is about addiction and enabling and how it relates to the Bible. My sister got pregnant in high school and gave birth to my niece when she was 17 years old. My parents raised the child and formally adopted her. So, legally my niece became my sister.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19901,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-cain-fathered-by-satan\/","url_meta":{"origin":38514,"position":5},"title":"Was Cain fathered by Satan?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was told by a Sunday school teacher that Cain was fathered by Satan. I cannot find this in the Bible. Can you help me with the answer? Answer: \"Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, \"I have acquired a man from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Response:<\/h2>\n