Teacher's have a tough job, too. They take on so many roles to meet their student's needs and keep their classrooms running smoothly.
TeacherMom's??!! Well they deserves capes all of their own.
I've been a TeacherMom for 14 years now. While each job has it's own challenges and rewards, I believe each helps me be better at the other.
I often find myself asking myself in the classroom, how would I want my own child's teacher to react in a situation. What would I want them to say to my child? How would I want them to make my own child feel?
Being a teacher also allows me to be a working mom and have a career where I'm not known as mom, but just Melissa...an educator. I've always known I would be a working mom and being a teacher has allowed me the career I desired while allowing me (most of the time) to put my family first. Best of two worlds! With a 14 and 10 year old with busy lives, our schedules can be quite crazy, but the time we get to spend together is treasured.
But, being a teacher mom can have it's downfalls as well. After answering 500 questions all day, I don't want to answer another 500 at night. After using all my patience on other children, I can get short quickly with my own. And after correcting misbehaviors and poor manners, I have high expectations for my own children's actions. While I think homework projects are great as a teacher, I loathe them as a parent. I speak about being involved, checking the bookbags, and signing papers only to miss most activities that occur during the school day (thankfully others always step in!) since I have a class of students counting on me, glance in the bag once a month when papers start falling out, and have been that parent sending the paper back on the last day it's due.
As all working moms, it's a challenge making it all work. Being the best in both worlds. But, we try! and as we tell our kids and students, that's all we can ask for!
Happy Mother's Day to all the TeacherMom's out there saving the world, one family and one classroom at a time!
