From pre-K to Grade 6, they administer Band-Aids and inspiration — sometimes on the same day.
We enter into partnerships with strangers when our babies are four or five years old. Elementary-school teachers will witness a hundred little joys and heartbreaks we may never even hear about. They will perceive our children in ways we never will.
It begins with the simplest lessons our kids will carry through the rest of their school career: sharing is caring; how to sit criss-cross-applesauce; you get what you get and you don’t get upset; use your listening ears and inside voice.
Children explode physically and mentally between pre-K and Grade 6, from knee-high to a grasshopper to “oh my gosh, don’t you have deodorant at home?”
Through all those years, teachers administer Band-Aids and inspiration — sometimes on the same day. They are stripped of their own identities to become Miss or Sir, and at least once a week a child will slip up and call them Mom or Dad, the highest honour.
To the elementary-school teachers who called and emailed in the evenings and during your days off, I see you.
To the teachers who accidentally cursed during class, thank you for revealing to my child that you’re human — just like Mom.
To the teachers who believed us, and who believed her, thank you for demonstrating to my child that there are adults she can trust, who will listen, who will hear her.
To the teachers I did not agree with, and who did not agree with me, thank you for teaching my child that people can think different things and still be respectful.
I won’t name the dozens of teachers, special educators, library technicians, substitute and resource teachers, custodians and lunchtime supervisors who directly touched my family. There are too many, and besides, they stand for all teachers who touch all families, past and future. But I will call out Ms. Joanne and Ms. Laurie, administrative assistants who know the name of every kid in their school, can call a caregiver with lightning speed, can answer any question, and (almost) never fail to smile.