Parents Back To School

School Already?

Recently, while eating at a local restaurant with my family, I overheard a woman at another table talking about the end of summer.

“I’m so happy summer is over,” she said. “Now I can finally get some rest.”

It wasn’t the first time I’d heard a parent say those words. When school season approaches, it’s sometimes hard to find parents who aren’t celebrating the chance to turn his or her kid over to someone else for eight hours a day. Even so, hearing the woman’s sentiments rekindled my thoughts on what this time of year means for my mission as the mother of my children.

My job as a mother never ends. I haven’t had a break since my eldest was born. Through all the highs, lows, setbacks, and rewards, I strive daily to train my children up in the way they should go and ensure that they are GREAT students.  Sending my children back to school, the proving ground where the negative influence of a student or adult could unravel the work I’ve done, brings me anxiety. While my children are at home, I can control the environment and ensure that they are safe and thinking soundly. When they are away from me, the world has the opportunity to shape them. The effort of trusting that they will be okay is far more daunting than keeping them entertained during the summer.

Furthermore, the arrival of school signals the start of the annual effort to ensure my children’s academic success. I’ve taught in the classroom. I know what’s expected. I involve myself in the academic process, ensuring that homework is completed, projects are turned in and tests are studied for. This is the furthest thing from a break, and probably one of my most important duties. Teachers get paid to facilitate my child’s learning. Many of them do it with noble intentions, but they aren’t called or obligated to lift my children to success or turn them into viable adults. That charge is with me, and I take it seriously.

In this day, so many children go to school untrained, with little support from their parents or teachers during the stressful academic process. Let’s not parents  shift the burden of raising our children to strangers. When we don’t step up to the task of fostering academic excellence, we run the risk of seeing our children not

reach their full potential. It’s nice to get some peace and quiet without the children around, but the price of looking at school as simply a free daycare is far too great to pay.

As the school year commences, I would like to encourage parents to remember that there is still a job to do. A parent wouldn’t so wholly trust a stranger with their child in any other setting. School should be no different. We need to kick into a higher gear when August rolls around. We need to continue to shoulder the burden of raising our children as they step out into the world, which is always real and ever present. Trust me when I say I will be sitting with my children while they study and do their homework. I will be constantly reminding them of the values and lessons we learned over the summer while guarding against potential bad influences. I will pray for them daily and look forward to those seeds growing.  If we don’t, who will?

And that my friend is GREATNESS uncensored-