Teacher Appreciation Week
May 4th thru May 8th marks National Teacher Appreciation Week. A time for us to pause and be grateful for the hard work teachers do every day to educate our youngsters.
All of us can probably remember remarkable teachers in our lives. Those teachers who made a huge impact on us in one way or another. Some of what they did was something small, but it stuck with us and made us better people.

Many teachers will never know how they effected a student’s life, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t made a difference for many. I think it’s like that for many of the good things we do for others. We are never sure what the end result of our actions will be, but hopefully, we take comfort in the fact that we tried to make a difference.

Teaching these days seems to be harder than ever, for many reasons. One reason is the lack of support and respect from parents. And that lack of respect and support from parents trickles down to the children…a very sad commentary from my perspective since I have many teachers in my family. My daughter and son-in-law are teachers, along with, a niece and two nephews. I see first hand how hard their jobs are and how devoted to kids they are.

When I was a child in school, my parents insisted that we be respectful of all of our teachers. I am sure that my parents didn’t agree with everything that was done, but they never voiced that to us. They too, were very respectful of our teachers. So, today, when I see parents ranting and raving on social media about their kid’s teachers or openly criticizing them in front of their children I become sad.
Just think of the message this sends to the children.

So this week, take time to pause and honor your children’s teachers. They deserve it and they need it. Some ways to do that are:

Let your children’s teachers know you appreciate them and support them with an email or a note
Send them a small token gift like a gift card for a coffee at their favorite coffee place.
Take them lunch.
Praise them to your children.
Have your children make a thank you card for them.
Support their decisions.
Never, never, criticize them in front of your children.

So let’s hear it for the teachers, this week and every other week too.