The Importance of Thank You!

Ohh how things have changed in our house! I am now in my third year of teaching and we welcomed our beautiful daughter Maci Ann in April 2013 ! All I can say is God Is GOOD! As much as I would love to blog about Maci Ann today (because our world pretty much revolves around her!). Today I was reminded of the importance of thank you! As I sat in a meeting with a parent today talking about my concerns with her child I found myself waiting for her to make excuses or tell me what I wasn't doing right or tell me I wasn't doing enough to help him because as an educator that has become my new normal. As I finished the conversation and waited for her to blast me (because that is pretty much what has always happened) She looked at me and said thank you so much for talking with me and telling me these things and thank you for everything you are doing for him! Can you say WOW! In my last two years of teaching all I have heard is you should be doing more or I wasn't doing it right and how everything was never good enough. In this day and age everybody always wants more and your best is never good enough ESPECIALLY in education!  Needless to say after I finished my second year of teaching I was getting ready to find a new career because this wasn't for me (I wanted my new career to be a stay at home mom but my husband wasn't having it :)! I say all of this because since I have started my new job I have began to LOVE teaching again all because of the words Thank You! I have been reminded that as educators we have important jobs and not everybody takes us for granted! We get tired and worn down and have more responsibilities than just your children most of the time! We put more time into your children then we do our own everyday during the week and that in itself makes me sad, and its really great parents and administration that keep us going and makes us want to be the best teachers we can be! When you let us know how good of a job we are doing you make us want to be great teachers! Let me assure you if your child's teacher is a great teacher it's not because he or she has to be. There are plenty of terrible teachers who will have their jobs until the day they retire thanks to the flaws in tenure! So I would like to encourage you if you have children with wonderful teachers thank them! They truly love your children and work their butts off because they want to see them reach their fullest potential and will do whatever it takes for them to do that! Good teachers do not have it out for your children and a thank you  from parents reminds them that they are not taken for granted and encourages them to keep on keeping on another day! I am very thankful for all the great teachers I know and even better get to call my friends!! On a side note I will add a picture of our sweet Maci Ann since it has been so long since I blogged!