A Letter to my Daughter’s Teacher

Dear teacher,

This is one difficult letter for me to write because today I realized that you will become one of the most important people in my daughter’s life.

If only you could see me as I write this letter… I type with tears in my eyes because I feel as if I am losing my baby. She is now a ‘big girl.’

You will be the starting point of her school journey and what you do with her this year will leave an indelible mark on her that will help shape her perspective of learning for years to come.

I must admit; I am scared, nervous rather and have all the doubts of what if she doesn’t fit in, what if the other kids don’t want to play with her, what if she forgets to tell you that she needs the bathroom, what if….

But in all my what if’s I am comforted by the fact that you are there. For that I admire you. I take my hat off to a woman who can handle 15 little ones. Their tears, their drama, their separation anxieties and their fears.

The love that you hold is powerful. It is a love that I am thankful for.

You are dedicated and passionate about what you do.

You are strong and even in those moments of weakness, you still keep pouring out love.

Sometimes you may feel undervalued but I want you to know that you are incredibly valued by my family, by your family and the people you work with, even though we may not say it out aloud often.

You need to always remember that the work that you do matters.

The lessons you teach in the classroom are powerful.

The sacrifices that you make are not simply doing a job. You are investing in the future of my child, and for that, I am forever grateful to you.

I really wanted to write this letter with a pen on a beautiful piece of paper but you and I both know that it will never make its way into my daughter’s school bag and I also feel that it is important for every teacher reading this to know how appreciated they are by the parents in their classrooms.

Like me, you are a mom too so you understand how overwhelming it can get but you are the only one that knows how it feels from both sides of the room.

The emotions that run through a mother’s heart on the first day of school. The tears of joy and worry that roll down her cheek when she kisses her child goodbye and turns around hoping she wouldn’t hear her child cry out loud and scream out “Mommy”.

You are the one that I trust to take care of my daughter the moment I walk away and teach her things that I cannot teach at home.

You the one that will wipe her tears dry when she cries and misses me.

You the one that will comfort her and clean her wound when she falls.

You the one that will blow her nose and change her clothes when she is dirty.

It seems like yesterday that I held her in my arms for the first time, was so proud of her first words, and yes when we celebrated her first poo in the toilet.

It seems like just yesterday when I watched her take her first steps, and now she is ready for her next journey in life.

I know that I need to let go and hand her over to you, and yet this day seems harder for me than her.

The hardest part of sending her to school is saying Goodbye but I know I have to so she can learn and grow.

As I watch her tiny feet walk away, forgive me if I get weak and crumple into tears. My baby is going to school.

Love,

A Parent in Your Classroom

“You provide the soil in which seeds are planted that you may never see blossom. You are the anchor when life is tough at home, the shoulder when there is loss. You are the voice that corrects with love and concern. You are the only people who can play a group of children like an orchestral conductor, allowing each child to play their own instrument, to make their own sound, but do it together as one glorious symphony.” Gary Meegan