Happy Mother's Day MAI Mothers

Happy Mother’s Day 2010

Mother, Mom, Mama, Mommy, Mum, Ma

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road. Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go. So make the best of this test and don’t ask why. It’s not a question, but a lesson learned in time. It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right. I hope you had the time of your life. -Green Day


Touched by Angels

Time. This year seems to be all about time. Not enough time; too much time; time going too slow; but mostly, time going too fast.

Time is too slow for those who wait,
Too swift for those who fear,
Too long for those who grieve,
Too short for those who rejoice,
But for those who love,
Time is eternity. - Henry Van Dyke

How many times have you watched your child sleeping and they looked exactly like an angel? So adorable you wanted to kiss them, and yet so peaceful you wouldn’t dare wake them up. When you watched them slow dance during the Candlelight Dinner, you knew they are growing up. This is another turning point, these last days of elementary school, and last days at Copper Creek.

Parents and teachers have a lot in common. For parents, it begins when a mother suffers the sharp pains of birth to deliver that precious baby. Then you begin an arduous journey replete with rewards and sacrifices. It’s the parents who “clean up” after their children. It begins with changing diapers and doesn’t end until they go off to college. And always, the constant battle to get that bedroom cleaned, homework done, and chores completed. Why can't they do what you tell them to do the first time you tell them to do it?

Also, it’s the parents who are there to deal with childhood diseases: high fevers, sore throats, strep throat, ear aches, mumps, measles, chicken pox, bumps and bruises, broken bones, and other medical and dental emergencies; late nights and sometimes you are up all night ; your journey takes you from baby aspirins to expensive braces.

You purchase a very nice house in a good neighborhood and get your kids enrolled in an effective school like Copper Creek, Cross, CDO, or Ironwood Ridge. Open enroll if you have to. Hopefully, you’ll get good teachers like Mrs. Dickert, or Mrs. Pruzin, or Mrs. Kramer, or Miss Ronnie.

Provide your child with nice clothes, good school supplies, healthy food, fun toys, and enjoyable vacations. Drive them to school; drive them to soccer or baseball; wait for them at religious classes, drive them to music or dance lessons. And pay for the lessons.

Isn’t it the parents who bring to school that forgotten lunch, that forgotten musical instrument, that forgotten homework assignment? But, isn’t it the parents who assist Santa, the Easter Rabbit, the Tooth Fairy, and organize birthday parties and sleepovers?

Raising a child is a long journey of fatigue, worry, sacrifice, joy, and exhilaration. It is an emotional investment of love and caring like no other in human experience. Raising a child is a reason for living; a primal purpose, giving real meaning to your life. “And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three: but the greatest of these is love.” And the greatest love is the love for a child.

It’s no wonder that parents are so proud of their child’s important accomplishments: the first step, the first tooth, the first word, the first sentence, or riding a two wheel bike the first time, or their First Communion. Later, pride in: an A on a paper; an A on a test; an A on a project; an A in a subject on a report card; high standardized test scores; perfect attendance, the honor roll; a part in a play, a solo musical performance; a home run, a blocked shot, a gymnastic move, or trophy won.

Parenting is a story of cooking, cleaning, fetching, and providing; of teaching, setting boundaries, administering rewards and consequences, establishing values, providing a spiritual foundation, formulating expectations, and giving advice; you are: the provider, a banker, a coach, a cheerleader, a nurse, a judge, jury, psychologist, mentor, teacher, tutor, and best friend.

Parents are there to answer those tough questions and listen to those irritating complaints: “I’m hungry; I’m bored; can I have that? will you buy me a cell phone? are we there yet? do I have to? can I watch a grown up movie? why is the sky blue? why do we have homework? why is there war? do I have to go to bed? do I have to get up? you don’t know what it’s like; mom, I learned about THAT in the Big Book of Knowledge; the other kid’s parents let them stay up ‘till midnight; why can’t you be cool? why can’t I go to my friend’s house? so what if his parents aren’t home; you don’t care; or, you don’t love me.

Kids start out testing boundaries and seeing how much you will allow them to do. By nature, they are all egocentric and they mostly only care about their own feelings, not yours; and their own wants and needs, not yours. But they are just kids. They are only nine or ten. They are learning and growing up just like you had to do.

However, the good news: parents also hear thanks Mom, thanks Dad, I made this for you, I love you; I’m glad you’re my Mom or Dad. And never forget those priceless hugs and kisses.

All you want is your child to be safe, healthy, happy, and successful. You want each of your children to have a better life, and live in a better world, then you did yourself.

A mother’s closeness with a child is like no other. Before they were born, you carried them and they were part of you. You nursed them and felt a closeness a person who is not a mother will never fully understand.

And it all goes by so fast. From a three wheel bike, to a two wheel bike, and soon they are driving a car. First comes a party dress, then a prom dress, followed by a graduation cap and gown. It soon may end with your daughter in a wedding dress, with your husband giving her away. Or, the first haircut, the first baseball uniform, the first suit and tie, a graduation cap and gown. And one day it may end in a tuxedo, at the altar, with you watching your son getting married.

But you have one advantage over parents whose children are already older. They can’t go back and enjoy a single day with their child when their child was nine, or ten, or eleven. But you are living through it now, and you know the value of each precious day, and you know you should enjoy it to the fullest, while you still can. In the play Our Town we learned that even the most unimportant day with a loved one is an important day.

Teachers nurture in many of the same ways as parents. Teachers are asked to teach every child that walks through their doors. Like you, we try to make your child become the best that they can be. We pick up after our students. We worry about their sicknesses. Did they have a good breakfast? Do they have a lunch? We worry about the friends they choose. We don’t want them to smoke, or drink, or take drugs or be a bragger or be a bully or use foul language. . When I see one of my students being rude to their mother, it hurts me and makes me sad. We are concerned about their future. How will they do on standardized tests and entrance exams? Do they have adequate reading, writing, and math skills? Can they learn to get along with everyone, especially people who are different? Can they make and keep friends? Are they kind and compassionate? Are they too egocentric, too full of themselves? Do they avoid bragging and showing off? Are they honest? Are they prepared for high school and college? Do they have confidence in themselves? Are they self-motivated? Will they grow up to become a productive citizen? Do they know who they are and how to have a happy, fulfilling life?

For ten months we lived together at school - through sunny days and rainy days. We lived through: spelling tests, reading tests, vocabulary tests and social studies tests; through science experiments and the Six Writing Traits. We completed math chapters, and math tests. Remember the ABC books, the trips to Office Max to get those glossy color pages printed, the book jackets, the giant post card, the touch typing, the entire class becoming Honors Readers, the forty-something books each student read in class and the AR points they earned.

We played Silent Ball on Fridays. The kids weren’t always silent. We lined up hundreds of times, and packed up hundreds of times, and sharpened pencils tens of thousands of times, and used enough paper to make it necessary to cut down a couple of trees. I gave endless lectures about being quiet and asked the boys not to bring Lady Bugs into the classroom; we lost recesses due to too much talking in class, we earned extra recesses for good behavior and other successes; we performed James and the Giant Peach and Our Town; we participated in: a Spelling Bee, a Turkey Calling Contest, sex education for fifth graders; Bullying Classes, drug awareness, Officer Ed came in and told us about kids being arrested, Field Day, Wet ‘N Wild Day, the Carnival, and the Book Fair. We assembled and launched rockets. We had a great Halloween Party and a great Valentine’s Party and are planning a fun end of year celebration. We had a Candlelight Dinner. We made those beautiful centerpieces for only two dollars. We went camping and went to the Halley Heart Center. After AR was over we read all our favorite Dr. Seuss books and we will set up Tent City. All that in 178 days.

It was all worth it this year - the difficult and the mundane - even worth being strict, when strictness was necessary. And not enabling because learning to be responsible is a more important lesson to be learned than anything else learned in school. Maintaining excellence and having high standards are difficult and worthwhile; but not always popular, appreciated, or understood goals. You can’t have excellence without accountability. You can’t teach a child to be a good worker without them doing a lot of work!

In the end, teachers want every child to do their best and reach their potential. Teachers want every child to be safe, healthy,
happy, and to have a better life, and live in a better world, then they did themselves.

Once again, the last day of school will soon come and the fifth grade students will attend their last day at Copper Creek and room 28. We will sign yearbooks. The fifth graders will parade through the halls to say their last goodbyes and give their final hugs. Our school and my classroom will never be quite the same. And it’s sad and hard to give them up and see them go. All that will remain will be the memories and the photographs. But I know that for a very short time, and the last time for the MAI class, we have been blessed and touched by angels. Your angels. J

Have the very best Mother’s Day. I will dearly miss the students and moms and dads and grandparents who are leaving us for middle school. Thanks for everything each of you did for our school, our class, and our kids.

“So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind. Hang it on a shelf of good health and good time. It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right. I hope you had the time of your life.” -Green Day

Bill Floore
May 10, 2010
Copper Creek Elementary School