Kids say the darndest things sometimes. Especially when you give them the opportunity. When we take the time to get to know our students and take the time to listen, I mean really listen, it can be pretty amazing what they choose to share. When you take the time to build relationships with your students, they trust you with the most vulnerable parts of themselves. They give you a glimpse into who they really are, what the desires of their hearts are, what their fears are.
As educators, we have been given an amazing opportunity. Sometimes it is overwhelming. Sometimes it seems a little too much. But I believe that we have been called, we have been called to love these children, and love these families in a special way. We show this love through our understanding and our empathy, we show this through the many ways that we make learning engaging and accessible to all, we show this through our enthusiasm and our determination, and we show this in the ways that we engage with one another.
To love in this way is not easy. There are times when you will be ridiculed, your motives and methods questioned, and there will be times when your love will be dismissed. But remember that the children, and the families that are the most difficult to love, the ones that try to push us away the most, the ones that are continually testing us, are in fact the ones that needest us the most. They need us to fight for them. They need us to repeatedly show them how much we care. They need to know that our love for them is unconditional. We must remember that they are our children, our family, our community.
