I don’t understand how the school system has changed so much, or maybe it is that I have boys who for one really do not care for school. My son’s both enjoy learning, but the actual school setup gets them a little off base, I always long for Summer because I feel like “I have my kids back” once Summer arrives. I have cheerful, interesting, happy go lucky boys. My son’s enjoy going to educational things and each day we read and learn. My youngest son much prefers educational kid books versus the books for pure life lessons or entertainment purposes. The amount of knowledge my sons have, sadly, cannot be measured effectively in the system that is called school.
With that being said, school matters, I may feel empathy towards how my sons feel about school most days. I may feel compassion for their struggles, but I also feel my job as a parent is to 1) ensure that they are not being mistreated when out of my hands and 2) guide them through the rough times. We cannot, as parents, shield and protect our children from everything. One of the biggest things I pride myself in as a parent is that I am able to step back from my emotions and figure a way to make each struggle a learning experience for my children. Thus far, my first born is almost 13 years old and has been the first child to get into this adolescence stage to see if my parenting ways really stick. So far, they have.
My children thrive because they have a guiding light, their Mama, to ensure that with every challenge they face, I am providing them with an appropriate coping mechanism to handle these situations. The reason I much prefer to step back from my Mama Bear emotions is because I feel my job is to prepare my children for adulthood, and if I am constantly being an emotional wreck over their hurt feelings, anger or other emotions towards outside influences, well then I am not doing my parental job. This is not to say that I don’t face situations, as Mama Bear, when necessary!
I firmly believe a parent’s job is to guide these little humans into being well-rounded adults full of life experiences to figure out who they are and what they want to be as well as be the guiding light, shoulder to lean on and ear to listen when they need to vent. Sometimes our children may be venting, much like we do as adults, they don’t want you to fix anything, they simply want you to listen, hear them out and work with them through this feeling. My sons really seem to enjoy having a Mama who stops to listen and talk with them to guide them forward in a positive way. My children have been very adaptable and they are extremely resilient, I only hope they carry this trait on into adulthood because both will be extremely important in the adult world.
