Thoughts from a teacher

Sometimes I read parenting blogs. I teach five-year-olds. They're not mine, but I am parenting them. I'm sure I see some of them more than their parents do. I like to get parenting information from time to time to see if it helps with my students. Sometimes it does. Sometimes the advice is stupid. The other day I came across one that talked about how to talk to your kids. It said something like we often talk to our kids in ways that we would never talk to our friends, and we would never allow someone to talk to us like that. I thought, "That is so true. I'm going to try to talk to my students how I would like to be talked to." That lasted for about 10 minutes. Then one kid climbs on the table. One pulls another's hair. Two start fighting. One is using her spit to draw pictures on the table. The rest are all running to look out the window because someone saw a really cool car. It's very true, I would never speak to my husband the way I speak to my students. I never speak to my friends or family the way I speak to my students. You know why? They are adults. They don't paint on the table with their saliva. They leave their clothes on in public, usually. They don't start wrestling in the middle of a lesson. They don't start crying because someone is copying everything they say. They don't say poo every other word. I never raise my voice to adults because I don't have to. They know how to behave.

Kindergarten teachers are very special people. There are frequently days when I think that I am not special enough to be one. Okay, really, teachers are special people. All you with kids, go show your kids' teachers some appreciation. They put up with a lot. And, yes, some of it is from your kid.