On Making Children Believe They Can

[Sunchimes]

We had a rather heated thread about children who have difficulties. I've been fretting over that for several reasons. I was looking through my blog reader just now and found this post. It said exactly what I wish I was talented enough to express.

http://momastery.com/blog/2012/01/13/on-gifts-and-talents-2/#comment-27711

You might want to read it and do a couple of things. For "mother" substitute "an adult" or "someone".

You might also remind yourself that for 8 hours of the day, we are the closest thing they have to mom.

Oh, and have a tissue handy. If your house is like mine right now, there is probably a box on every flat surface.

[Ariana]

[melskids]

Wow. Bring your tissues.

Thanks for posting.

[DBug]

*sniff* Thanks for posting this! It's so true. And we forget it all too often

*looking for the tissues ...*

[mickey2]

Thank you for sharing. This is so beautiful, it really made me cry.
I am so blessed to do what I do each day. Each and everyone of my daytime children have their own little personality and their own strengths and weaknesses. How special and wonderful they all are to me each in their own way. I love every single one of them just the way they are.

[jessrlee]

Have you ever read the Teddy Stoddard story?

http://faithcenter.wordpress.com/2008/05/10/the-teddy-stoddard-story-wednesday-may-14-2008/

We read it in church and I bawled!

[Sunchimes]

I had seen a version of Teddy's story before. I got teary again.

I think that this may have been the best New Year's Eve ever because a little boy that adopted us when he was 4, contacted me. For 4 years, I cooked the evening meal in 2 pans, one with onions and one without, because he really hated onions. And when I talked to this 18 year old boy on New Year's Eve, he remembered that I didn't make him eat onions and that I taught him to read. Who could imagine that a small child would remember that you left the onions out of his food every day?

It's the little things that they remember, but mostly they remember that you cared.

[e.j.]

It's the little things that they remember, but mostly they remember that you cared.

This reminds me of a quote I taped onto my big IEP file when my kids were in school. "They may forget what you said but they will always remember how you made them feel."

Thanks for sharing the link. I wish I had read that when my own kids were younger but will use it to inspire me in my work as a dcp.