Parents

After a frustrating day/year, I was tempted to post some negative stuff to get things off my mind. Instead, I decided to turn my negative into a positive and focus on that.

I am SO thankful for my parents. The more I teach, the more I realize how much they have done for me. None of us can control who we are born to and their situation, but we can make the best of what we are given. My family and Blake's family are full of stories of people doing this exact thing. I personally have had a pretty stable childhood and that has helped me get to where I am today.

Even though my parents both worked full time, they will didn't leave my ENTIRE education up to my teachers. They realized that my education begins at the very beginning, a very good place to start (sorry, I had to). They read to me. They talked to me. They answered my questions. They took me places and allowed me to have experiences. THEY TALKED TO ME! I am realizing how important this is to a child's development, especially their VOCABULARY! When I did start school. I was expected to get good grades. When I struggled and brought home failing grades (mainly in spelling), they made sure they practiced with me and I was required to study. Oh, and they knew that I had failing grades because they ALWAYS checked my daily folder. They were involved in my education. They realized that my teacher, no matter how good she/he was, also had 20 something other students in my class and they were in the best position to help me.

They made sure I knew the value of a dollar. I will be the first to admit that I was/am very blessed and rarely did without, but I can clearly remember not being allowed to buy certain things unless they were on sale or we had a coupon. I also had many cavities as a child and I still remember having to pay for one of them. I was in the 4th grade! My parents were tired of paying for my fillings which were my fault so I had to use my birthday money to pay for it. I did not have any more cavities for a long time. :) They taught me about saving, interest, and budgeting. This has helped me tremendously as an adult.

My parents enforced consequences and responsibilities. They did not do everything for me. They let me struggle and learn for myself. They didn't always jump in to save me from my consequences and much as I'm sure they wanted to. They love me no matter what and have always supported me. They never forced me into activities that I didn't want to do. Anytime I came to them wanting to start a new activity, they fully supported me.

I could probably go on further but I have to get to Zumba and dance my frustrations and calories away. Bottom line, I am so thankful for my parents. I hope that one day when God decided to bless us with babies, we will be just as good as our parents were.