One of the reasons I love teaching so much is because I really enjoy getting to know the children. I make a point of creating a personal relationship with every child on my campus because I want them to know how much I care about them. It's not enough to know what class they are in or what grade. I want to know more than just their names. I want to know what they like to do, what interests them, what and how they want to learn. I like to hear about their families and what they did last weekend. It's because of these relationships that I can get some students to do things other people can't. If a child I have a relationship with is making a bad choice, I can often get him or her to stop. If they can't or don't want to do their work, I can usually fix that, too. I love these kids and I want the best for them so I do everything I can to help them understand that they are important and appreciated.
And when one of them goes and calls my child a horrible name like, "creepy," well, it just breaks my heart.
It's hard to get over something like that. Sure, we're talking about children and they do things sometimes for no explainable reason. I still love this other child and I still want to see her to do amazing things but sometimes it's hard to actually be an adult and move on without remembering every time I look at her or speak to her what an awful thing she said about my baby for absolutely no reason. I think it's only because I care about her so much that it's affected me the way that it has. I guess I feel a bit betrayed myself. I can tell she is sorry that she said it because she won't look me in the eye now and she's not quite her same bubbly self today. Hopefully, she has learned that her words are more powerful weapons than she had imagined and, therefore, she needs to choose them carefully.
I'm sure tomorrow will be different and the sting will have dissipated some. It's funny how time can do that. Sometimes I am happy that Imma doesn't understand everything because at least she avoids some of the pain words like this one can cause. But then that argument is circular because she might not have been called this name in the first place if she could understand.
I am glad that I am here to protect my child and the other children who are different. Not everyone has the opportunity to go to school with their children everyday and those children need someone to stand up for them. I'm constantly on the look-out for children being picked on and I try to alleviate those situations so both the bullied and the bully can find happiness. If a small child is picking on another child, everything isn't okay on either end. I know I can't possibly rectify all of the wrongs that happen each day but hopefully I can be of some small influence to our children and help them to make better choices next time so that no one else has to feel the sharp sting of an ugly word like creepy.
On a lighter note, I finally got some pictures of the girls playing t-ball!
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| Lucy holds the bat funny! |
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| And usually pushes the ball off with the wrong end. |
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| I don't think that's where your glove is supposed to go, Lu Lu |
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| Getting ready! |
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| It's a hit! |
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