I’m not sure that I’ve said it yet, or if I’ll remember to say it in the future, but thank you.
Thank you for doing more than just teaching my children their ABCs and multiplication tables and state capitals. Thank you for being their champion, their guardian, their protector for six hours each day. As parents, we tend to forget that you are often the only person who can protect our child from harm when they are not with us during the day, whether it’s when they are crossing the street or roughhousing at recess or, like last Friday, when the unimaginable happens.
I don’t know why I never really stopped to realize that before. Perhaps I was naïve, or perhaps I just didn’t want to think about it. All I know is that it took a horrible tragedy like last week to open my eyes.
We literally entrust our children’s safety with you, often blindly, because – let’s face it – we’re pretty much strangers. Sure, we know your name and you know ours, and we meet twice a year for conferences, but I don’t really know much else about you, like where you went to school or what your favorite kind of ice cream is. But five days a week, I hand my child over to your safekeeping and I know you will care for my child because that’s what you do.
They say it takes “someone special” to be a teacher – or to work with children in general – but I think that’s a gross understatement. It takes someone noble and selfless to literally give herself to her job, to her students. It takes someone brave and strong and courageous to shield her students from harm’s way, with disregard for her own personal safety, to think about comforting and protecting her young charges rather than own well-being. It takes someone committed and passionate to come in every day, regardless of contract negotiations and budget cuts and other external distractions, and teach our children the fundamentals that will shape their future.
I’m not sure I know many other people willing to sacrifice as much as the teachers in Newtown did, nor do I know many people who routinely give what teachers across the country give every single day … and often without much gratitude or appreciation or fanfare. We often tend to lose sight of what they offer our children, getting bogged down instead with the petty details, like why didn’t Johnny get an A+ instead of an A, or why did Sally lose five minutes of recess.
The events of December 14, 2012 presented parents like me with the sobering and incomprehensible reality that when we send our children to school in the morning – lunches packed, bulging backpacks perched perilously on their backs, one fleeting hug before they scurry on to the bus – that it might be the last time we ever see them, that they might never return home. The thought is truthfully too horrific to imagine.
Although I am still reeling from what happened, and feeling outraged at so many things (the lack of gun control in this country, the indisputable need for more widespread mental health services for the millions of troubled adolescents who need care, but don’t receive it, I want to stop and say thank you.
And not just to you, but also to the aides and school administrators and aides and librarians and custodians and bus drivers and everyone else who cares for and keeps a watchful eye on my kids during the school day.
Thank you for your hard work and the sacrifices that you make, not because you’re looking for accolades, but because you simply love teaching. Thank you for using your free time to stay after school to help with homework or advise the drama club or just lend an ear to a troubled student. Thank you for protecting and loving my children when I cannot be with them. Thank you for helping them grow, for challenging and motivating and inspiring them. Thank you for keeping them safe.
jen says
Well said Jess ! I held my babies extra tight this weekend.
Joanna {Baby Gators Den} says
Great post. Teachers are so special…
Chelley says
Beautifully written and so true. Love and hugs to all the parents bringing little ones to school today.
Jessica says
Thanks so much. I gave my little guy an extra long hug this morning before he left for school and had to fight back the tears so I wouldn’t freak him out.
Michele C. says
Jessica this is perfect. I must have said thank you to my kids’ daycare teachers 10 times this morning, given my littles 100 kisses and hugs, and just didn’t want to leave. Their holiday present this year will for certain include an extra special, personal note of thanks. For all that they do for my children every day.
Jessica says
The parents in my son’s kindergarten class went in on gifts for the teacher but I think I want to send her my own personal note of thanks, too.
mel says
THis is beautiful Jess. Now, I am crying!
Jessica says
Thanks so much. I must have gone through boxes and boxes of tissues this weekend …
Chrystal says
As a teacher, I thank you for writing this post. Today has been a hard day. This post left me weeping.
Jessica says
Thank YOU for all that you do. I can only imagine how hard today must be.
Audrey says
I’m standing up and applauding.
What a BEAUTIFUL POST!
xo
Jessica says
Thanks, Audrey!
Lisa Deck says
Beautiful post! I think my kids are wondering why I have hugged them a million times this weekend…but hope they feel all the love. Thanks, Jess!
Jessica says
Mine, too. I keep hoping I’m not freaking them out too much with my own behavior, you know? They’re quite intuitive, those little ones.
Megan says
This was beautiful and made me tear up. As a former teacher, I cannot imagine the hell those amazing hero teachers went through trying to protect their students. I am going to give my daughter’s teachers a huge hug tomorrow when I drop her off at nursery school.
Kelly says
Jess, thank you for taking the time to write this.
Jessica says
I meant every word. Thanks for all you do 😉
Jackie Snyder says
This was beautiful! Living a mile from Columbine High School, having a son that is a first responder, knowing a teacher friend that is very close to the psychologist that died in Sandy Hook and being a teacher myself I want to thank you for writing this. As I told a student today it is ok to cry, say a prayer and get on to what we need to do. What else can we possibly say when we don’t understand it ourselves. Thank you again. (Lisa Deck’s Aunt)
Eileen says
Thank you for writing this lovely letter! It inspired me to be more grateful for the incredible people that are helping me raise my twin daughters!!!
Lesley says
Beautiful words Jess xx