Often the simplest things are the most important things--particularly when it comes to growing relationships with young people. May we never stop listening or seeing them. Enjoy this piece written by my dear friend Kim Flyr, a counselor and former school counselor and teacher.
Seeing the Child in the Student
On the first day of kindergarten, there is no lack of hope and joy walking in the front door of our schools. As a career elementary teacher and then counselor in our public schools, I have spent many first days ostensibly “helping out” in Kindergarten, but I was really there to re-fill my own bucket of happiness. Sure, a few kids may fuss leaving mom or dad (often matched by moms or dads crying over leaving them), but, in whole, the mood is jubilant. Kindergartners fully expect to love school, this seemingly magical place filled with yet unseen toys and books and teachers, where they have seen their older siblings and neighbors go every day. Truly, they start out giving us the benefit of the doubt, these 5-year-old optimists.
As I pack my third and last child off to high school this school year, she enters with a distinct lack of jubilation. And it isn’t only her. We survey our high schoolers every year, and they report feeling exhausted, bored, stressed, overwhelmed during the course of their day. Ugh.
Read the rest of the article here.