My Daughter's First Day of School

To be a teacher is a gift. Entrusted with the world's newest citizens, it is our obligation to ensure that each child is valued and respected for his/her unique qualities.

It is our responsibility to support them when they make mistakes; punishment serves no purpose other than making the child feel small.

Honour every child's achievement based on effort. Each child learns in his/her own way and not every student will achieve high test scores.

It is our job to support their journey as students and human beings. Treat them as you wish to be treated.

Long after the facts are forgotten, the memory of kinds words of encouragement will resonate in their hearts.

Have patience, nurture them, and be the teacher that they will remember all the days of their lives!

I found this letter tucked in my desk; the author is unknown but I felt I should share it with all of you.

Dear World,

I bequeath to you today one little girl in a crispy dress with two blue eyes and a happy laugh that ripples all day long and a flash of blond hair that bounces in the sun when she runs.

I trust you'll treat her well.

She's slipping out of the backyard of my heart this morning.. and skipping off down the street to her first day of school. And never again will she be completely mine.

Prim and proud she'll wave her young and independent hand this morning and say,

"Goodbye" and walk with little lady steps to the schoolhouse.

Now she'll learn to stand in lines and wait by the alphabet for her name to be called. She'll learn to tune her ears for the sounds of school bells and deadlines and she'll learn to giggle and gossip and look a the ceiling in a disinterested way when the little boy 'cross the aisle sticks out his tongue at her. And, now she'll learn to be jealous. And now she'll learn how it is to feel hurt inside. And now she'll learn how not to cry.

No longer will she have time to sit on the front porch steps on a summer day and watch an ant scurry across the crack in the sidewalk. Nor will she have time to pop out of bed with the dawn and kiss lilac blooms in the morning dew. No, now she'll worry about those important things like grades and which dress to wear and whose best friend is whose. And the magic of books and learning will replace the magic of blocks and dolls. And now she'll find new heroes.

For five full years now I've been her sage and Santa Claus and playmate and father and friend. Now she'll learn to worship with her teachers which is only right. But, no longer will I be the smartest, greatest man in the whole world. Today when that school bell rings for the first time, she'll learn what it means to be a member of the group with all its privilege's and its disadvantages too. She'll learn in time that proper Young ladies do not laugh out loud or kiss dogs or keep frogs in pickle jars in bedrooms or even watch ants scurry across cracks in sidewalks in summer.

Today she'll learn for the first time that all who smile at her are not her friends. And I'll stand on the front porch and watch her start out on her long, lonely journey to becoming a woman.

So I bequeath to you today one little girl in a crispy dress with two blue eyes and a flash of light blond hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs.

I trust you'll treat her well!