Thursday 26 May 2011

article of interest

"Here's the deal: if you promise not to believe everything your child tells you about school, then I promise to not believe everything that your child tells me about home ... 

I work hard to make fair and equitable decisions but I have come to terms with knowing I can’t please everyone all of the time ... The best I can do is treat my students with dignity and respect, care for each of them, and have the best interest of every student in mind with every choice that I make.

If I remain true to the belief that each child deserves this fair treatment, then I will please myself and my conscience, and at the end of the day, I’m more than OK with that."

Read the whole article ...
http://www.parentscanada.com/learning/articles.aspx?listingid=908

Wednesday 25 May 2011

i love my mom because she plays with me ...

I read a book with the children in the early weeks of May. It's title is I Love My Mom Because ...

As we read through the book the children smiled and agreed with the what the pages were saying; because she hugs me, because she holds my hand. But, when we got to the page that states, I love my mom because she plays with me, there was silence, pensive looks on the children's faces. Followed by responses such as "my mom doesn't play with me;" "my mom is too busy;" "my mom is too busy making dinner" ... then when the conversation petered out, I had a little boy say, "but my mom plays with me."
The way he said it, it almost didn't sound like he was sure he should share the information. It made me smile and broke my heart at the same time.

I do know that children's perceptions are not the carved in stone truth and I believe that each parent with a child in that group does in fact spend time playing with their child. But, what this conversation inspired me to do was give conscious thought at the end of each day to whether or not I played with the daycare children and with my own son. And I don't mean tickled and sang a song while I changed his diaper, read to him at bed time, or involved him in cooking with me. I mean truly took time from my day to devote whole heartily to play with him; zero distractions, truly present and engaged doing something that he chose to do. That's what those children were referring to.

I encourage every parent, regardless of the age of their child, to do the same.

Friday 20 May 2011

Oh Technology

Had a computer crash. Finally have the new computer up and running. So many things to post! Will catch up soon. Keep checking in.