The Perspective of a Parent

When the school year starts, lots of eager (sometimes nervous) little faces come through our door. They are ours to love on, mold and guide for a short window of time. We are the "receivers." If you have school-aged children of your own then you know what it is like to be a "sender."

As nervous as those little faces are, the faces left at home are that much more nervous.

Sure some may do a happy dance as they wave goodbye to the big yellow bus and say hello to some child-free alone time, but they are also hoping that the person on the receiving end is going to appreciate their little loves (quirks and all) as much as they do.

{photo source}

I'm sure many of you are familiar with Kelle Hampton and her fabulous blog (and photos...as evidenced above). I, like many, discovered it when her candid post about the birth of her daughter Nella went viral. A friend had posted a link on Facebook and wrote, "read with a box of tissues."

I usually avoid clicking on links like that but am so glad I checked that one out. I've been following Kelle ever since. She is a constant reminder to make childhood as special as you can, to document the day to day stuff with photos and words and to...well...enjoy the small things.

As a teacher, I was intrigued by the fact that she was home schooled and then became a public school teacher. My book club had the opportunity to Skype with her this past spring and I asked about her educational plans for her own children since she has had experience with both.

Yesterday she posted about sending her oldest off to Kindergarten. And while I've been on the "sending" end and experienced some of the emotions that accompany sending your child off to Kindergarten it didn't really count since he was literally only going 3 doors down from me every day.

I enjoyed reading her post and wanted to share the link with you this morning because I think, as teachers, it's so important to be aware of where our little ones are coming from and keep in mind the trust that parents must place in us.