Perspective

Being a mother has changed my entire perspective on life. That includes my job as a teacher. Students are no longer just students. They are someone else's kids. I look into the future and wonder, how will my son be treated when he is in middle school? What kind of person will he be when he is 12 years old? Will he be rambunctious and rowdy? Attentive and quiet? Will he have a personality like one of my students? Will he like to read? How will his teachers talk to him? Will a teacher say something that will make him feel bad? Would he tell me? With these thoughts in mind, I am more careful with what I say and how I say it. With these thoughts in mind, I am more patient with them. Even though I always knew it, I never truly believed that what I say could have such an influence on their young hearts and minds. Half the time it feels like some of them aren't listening to me. Now I know. And not because I said something to a student that hurt his feelings. I know it because I am a mother now, and I know how my feelings, my actions, and my words can affect my child.