Thanks childcare, kindy and school teachers! This is why we ADORE you
Did you know today is a special day? It’s World Teacher’s Day, which is when we as parents (as well as our little ones) get to say thank you to the amazing childcare, kindy and school teachers in our kids’ lives. It is a chance to reflect on who they are and all that they do for our children. As such, it is also an opportunity to express how much we adore them. And boy, do we adore them!
So in that spirit, here are a few things I’m grateful to my kids’ educators for. Happy World Teacher’s Day, everyone!
Thank you for loving my little love
I know you love my child and I know you try so hard to make him feel it. You know him and know how to make him feel secure in your presence. In your own special way, you soothe him when he experiences separation anxiety at drop off time. You talk to him and are already reaching for the toys that will distract and excite him as I leave. You love him and he knows it.
Thank you for ‘seeing’ him
I love it when you tell me the sweet, cute things my little love does that makes him who he is, and also makes you smile as his teacher. I know my child isn’t just another face in your classroom, but a person who is his own being with his own thoughts, interests, feelings and potential that you want to encourage. Thank you for seeing him, for all he is and can be, with your special teacher eyes.
Thank you for giving yourself
I know yours is a sacrificial job. You give yourself, day in and day out. You give your energy, your knowledge and your sanity (because wrangling all those kids must surely drive you bonkers some days?!) but most of all, you also give your heart.
You feel for my child when he’s having a good or a hard day and it’s that love which makes all the difference to mine when I can’t be with him. Yours is a job that money can’t compensate, but I really wish your pay was better. You deserve it.
Thank you for doing the messy play
I know I should do painting at home more and make play dough from scratch, but I struggle to keep on top of the housework as it is and that sort of messy play is exactly that, messy. Thank you for meeting my child’s sensory needs when I don’t (enough). With you, he smears his pudgy little hands in paint to make me gorgeous hand print artworks which I treasure, and I know that this is just some of the messy fun he has with you. Thank you!
Thank you for your gentle encouragement
I see my little love blossom and grow under your wing and mine. We are in this together and when you observe an area you feel he could develop, like his social skills, or having the confidence to sing a song in front of his peers, it is with gentle encouragement that you support him to grow and shine. I am so grateful that he has you in his life.
Thank you for teaching him in a way that I can’t
You have a gift. You are able to explain things to him in a way that I can’t or don’t think to (like how to draw the Aboriginal flag and what it represents). That’s not to say I am inept, just that we are different types of teachers – I am his mother, but you are his educator. You are prepping him for school, but also for life. He is learning so much from you, beyond his ABCs or how to write the number two. Thank you for opening his world up to him (and for teaching him how to use chopsticks!).
Thank you for supporting me too
Thank you for all you do for me, too. When I enter the classroom of a morning in a frazzled mess – having forgotten drink bottles and hats – you look at me with fondness. “Don’t worry, he can have a cup today – I’ll draw a bus on it. He loves buses,” you tell me as you fetch a spare kindy hat for him to borrow.
Because of you, and the kind person you are, I feel supported too. Life is hard, and balancing work and family is a juggle I never realised was so tough, but you have my back and I couldn’t do it without your support. Thank you, and happy Teacher’s Day. You have no idea how much I adore you!
If this rings true for you too, then why not buy your kid’s kindy teachers a little something (like a chocolate or some tea) in your lunch break, or pick them some flowers from your garden before you do pick up today? Everyone likes to feel appreciated.
This post was originally published on 5 October, 2018.
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