When Motherhood and Teaching Collide
My mom used to tell me that becoming a mother would change me as a teacher. Of course motherhood changes you as a person first and foremost but she assured me that it would make me see things differently. I accepted that she was probably right and went on my merry (tired) way.
I can honestly say I didn’t give that idea much thought until now. When I returned to teaching I went right back into my groove. It took a few weeks to get adjusted to starting in the middle of a school year but now here we are in the middle of October and I feel like I never really left for any sort of maternity leave.
But I do think being a mom has changed me.
Maybe it’s in the way that noise doesn’t get to me the way it used to. I can block out a noisy classroom a little too well and my kiddos have helped me do the alternative– block out a crying baby. I also found that I am more patient. Maybe it’s because my students are so much more capable of doing “grown up” things like helping out in the classroom and helping each other. I like watching them, and I like imagining what Andrew will be like when he is their age.
I find myself putting myself in the shoes of the parents. When Andrew is in school, I know I’ll want his teachers to take good care of him so maybe this is my way to “pay it forward”.
Today is the end of the 1st quarter and I got my list of pink slips so I could take them into consideration when writing report card grades. Pink slips are what we give out to a student who is not behaving appropriately. In years past, I have written upwards of 80 pink slips in a quarter. I think once I even wrote over 100. Granted we have an EXCELLENT group this year but this quarter I wrote 4. Yes, FOUR. That’s like, unheard of. I guess that goes back to the patience thing.
But what made me sit down to write this? Well today while writing up my lesson plans for next week I actually took the time to plan {gasp} HALLOWEEN activities for my students. I despise Halloween but for some reason I’m excited about it this year and I don’t have to think hard to know why. It’s because I want to make it special for my little lion who will be able to walk from door to door this year and who I know with each passing year, will come to enjoy Halloween more and more. I used to ignore the holiday altogether but now I’m starting to understand that even though I hate it, it’s important to kids and if I’m going to be a good mom and a good teacher, what’s important to them has to be important to me too.
Good Post Emily. Children change us in so many ways and I’ve learned as much from my children these past 18.5 years as they have learned from me.
Well stated!
I think you are right – motherhood really does alter perspective.