Top 2 Reasons to Pray for Your Child’s Teacher

Back-to-school season is in full swing. Some of your kids might already be in school.

While most parents are out shopping for clothes and school supplies for the year.

Your child’s teacher is busy at school preparing their classroom to receive your child.

Many of them have spent their summer off in training or writing lesson plans for the upcoming year.

Some have devoted their summer to helping children succeed and pass their classes in summer school.

As a former high school teacher, one of the best things you can do for your child’s teacher(s) is to pray for them.

Not just during the beginning of the school year, but throughout the school year.

I would like to share with you the top 2 reasons you should pray for your child’s teacher and what you should pray for.

2 Reasons You Should Pray for Your Child’s Teacher(s)

1. They’re Only Human

Teachers fall into that group of people that as a society we tend to hold to a higher moral standard than the rest of us.

Sometimes we forget they are human, just like us.

When I taught I had to constantly remind my students that I did not sleep, breathe, and eat at school.

I had a life outside those four walls, and sometimes like them, I had good and bad days.

While I did my best not to let my life outside of school affect my job, it didn’t always happen that way.

Your child’s teacher is no different than, you.

They have fears, struggles, and their own brokenness that they have to deal with every day. Plus, they have to deal with a room full of children from various backgrounds and home situations for 8 hours.

Needless, to say your child’s teacher deserves a lot of prayer and grace from their student’s parents.

2. They Have a Major Influence On Your Children

Your child spends roughly 7-8 hours a day at school for 10 months.

This means they spend roughly 1,500 hours a year at school.

That’s a lot of hours to spend with somebody other than their parents.

Your child’s teacher has the potential to have a huge impact on their life.

A teachers primary job is to pass down the information that our society deems important for our children to live decent and productive lives.

During all of this sharing of knowledge, teachers can pass on their own personal thoughts and beliefs to our students.

Some of which might be contrary to what we as parents teach our children at home.

For instance, there was an English teacher in my school that was very vocal with her students about women’s rights and being Pro-choice.

Many pro-life students in her class refused to speak up on the topic out of fear and some of them were even swayed to support the pro-abortion argument.

While I feel it is ok for teachers to pose questions to students to help them come to their own conclusions about certain issues.

I don’t believe that they should push their own beliefs on our children.

This is not something that you as a parent can control, but it is something that you should be aware of.

Everybody needs prayer, but as our kids go to school it is important to make sure that we cover not only your children but their teachers in prayer.

What Should I Pray for My Child’s Teacher(s)?

Most parents do not have close relationships with their children’s teachers unless they are very involved in their child’s school.

It’s hard to pray for someone when you don’t know them personally, but as a former teacher, I can give you a general guide as to what I needed and often prayed for during the school year.

1. Patience

I often found my patience running thin with my students by the end of the 1st quarter.

It’s difficult trying to keep 30 students on track and engaged all day.

As well as convincing them to turn in or actually do their homework assignments.

If I’m being honest, there were a few days in my teaching career when I just gave up trying to teach my students anything because I was frustrated with the kids and their behavior.

I would have to take a “teacher time out” and ask the Lord to give me the strength and the patience to make it to the end of the day.

2. Compassion

When I first started teaching one of the first things I was told by a veteran teacher was not to smile or be nice to your students.

I figured she didn’t know what she was talking about and so on the first day of school, I smiled and was nice to my kids.

As I drifted into my 2nd quarter of teaching my patience and the kindness began to wear off.

I found myself being snappy and irritable with my kids. I was fed up with their excuses and shenanigans.

I didn’t want to give them another chance to turn in that assignment that I had already given them 3 times already.

I would often have to remind myself to extend the same compassion to my students that Christ had extended to me.

3. Forgiveness

As I mentioned before, teachers are human just like everybody else. Sometimes students can be very…challenging and disrespectful towards their teachers.

Even though we know they are just children sometimes, it’s hard to not take these attacks personally.

Sometimes this can manifest itself in a passive-aggressive manner or a negative attitude towards a child.

Pray that your son or daughter’s teacher has a forgiving heart and doesn’t hold a grudge against those students that offend them.

4.Wisdom & 5.Discernment

Pray that your child’s teacher will have wisdom and discernment.

As a teacher, my job was so much more than teaching students.

I also served as “mom”, counselor, and social worker for some of my kids.

I needed wisdom and discernment to know when something was wrong with one of my students and how to approach them.

A few years ago I had a student that was being physically abused by her boyfriend.

I had known her since she was a freshman and I just couldn’t believe that she was living in this kind of situation.

I had to pray for wisdom and discernment on how to properly handle the issue.

If you’ve ever dealt with someone who’s been in an abusive situation, you know how difficult it can be.

In the end, with the help of her counselor, we were able to get her out of that situation and into a safer environment.

6. Safety

Pray for the safety of your children, their school, and their teachers.

Mass school shootings and bullying have become a prominent issue in today’s culture.

But there is also a silent issue that goes unreported in schools.

Have you ever met a teacher that has been assaulted by a student?

Well, I have.

It doesn’t get covered in the news very often, but there have been plenty of instances where teachers have been physically and/or verbally attacked by students and/or their parents.

I was never afraid of the students in my classroom, but I also stayed covered in prayer.

7. Salvation

Most importantly pray for their salvation.

There are many teachers in public and private school systems that are Christians.

And there are just as many, if not more of them that aren’t.

If your son or daughter’s teacher is a Christian pray for their strength and that they will be a light in a dark place.

If they aren’t pray that they will come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Don’t be afraid to invite them to church or an outreach event.

You and your child could be the ones to plant the seed of salvation in that teacher’s life.

Final Thoughts

Your child’s teachers will probably be one of the most influential people in your child’s life.

I’m sure you know someone whose life was changed for better or worse by a teacher.

Remember your child’s teacher has the power to speak life or death into your children every day.

While we tend to hold teachers to a higher moral standard, they are still only human like the rest of us.

They still need to be covered in prayer.

So take this time today and write down the name(s) of your child’s teacher(s).

Make it a point to add them to your prayer list.

Pray that God would grant them patience, compassion, the ability to forgive, wisdom, discernment, and the gift of salvation.

Do you pray for your child’s teacher? What other items would you add to the prayer list?

I’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments section.

If you liked this post, don’t forget to like and share it on social media.

As always, keep Jesus in the center of everything you do.

Your sister in Christ,

Eboni