Thank You

I'm crying again today, but I think there are many others who are crying with me.  These days, anything that happens to a school hits me doubly hard.  As both a teacher and a mom, I now feel these tragic events on such different levels.  So today's post isn't going to be a silly anecdote.

I follow another blog called Baby Sideburns, both on Facebook and her actual blog: http://www.chicagonow.com/baby-sideburns

She's pretty hysterical, can be kind of crude, but says oh so eloquently what so many parents are just thinking.  I really loved her post on Facebook this morning (trolls are people who disagree with what she says/does):

"A reader just brought to my attention that while I'm bitching about my kid waking up too early, there are a bunch of parents in Moore, Oklahoma who would love to be woken up by their kids this morning. She is not a troll. She is absolutely right. To those parents in Oklahoma, my prayers are with you today. I'm deleting my last post and I'm not bitching about my kids today. I'm hugging them tighter."

It's so true.  I would wake up 10 times a night for the rest of my life just to know that Evelyn's going to be okay, and I know Steve would, too.  Don't get me wrong, I am awaiting the day when I sleep until 6 or 7 without being woken up, but if it never happens, I'll survive!  I will be working closely with my cousin Janey to actually invent the Coffee IV, but I'll survive.  

I also want to take this opportunity as a teacher, and as the school year starts to wind down, to remind the parents out there to thank your kids' teachers.  I don't mean buy them something (but I know they wouldn't say no to a Starbucks or Wawa gift card, stay away from the chocolate, mugs, and candles).  I mean write them a note, have your kid draw a picture, and just genuinely let them know that you appreciate what they do.

My whole philosophy as a teacher has always been to run my classroom and treat my students as if they were my own kids.  If I were a parent of one of my students, would I be alright with how my child was treated that day?  That being said, 99% of the teachers out there think the same way.  Your child's teacher loves them, and as we have seen too much lately would put themselves in danger to protect your child.  As parents and teachers we have to hope that we will never have to experience a similar situation first hand, but you should know that your child's teacher would do anything in their power to prevent something from happening to them.  And that's why you need to thank them, even if you didn't like them, even if it wasn't your child's best year or favorite teacher.

I'll step down off my soapbox now and go back to CNN.