Let’s face it, our kids’ graduation is just as taxing on us as it is on them. Probably more so because they most likely don’t yet understand that “end of an era” feeling. This time of the year is a strange mix of a million emotions for parents, students, and teachers: excitement because the end of the year is upon us and there is so much to do, craziness because everyone is busy, sadness because we (as adults) DO understand that it’s an end of an era, pride in everything the students have accomplished. There’s a lot of heart in these last few weeks. Tons of feels all around.
Two years ago when my eldest son graduated I cried two times. 1) When I first saw him in his cap and gown and 2) a little bit when we left him at college. In contrast, many of his friend’s moms were weeping balls of mess. We would get talking about the kids and I would smile and laugh and they would say, “how are you not crying?” At first I felt guilty. Was I seriously glad that one was leaving the house? But, then I realized that besides the fact that I would miss my son terribly as he went to school, this was what I raised him for. I worked really hard for 18 years to raise a human that would leave me and make a life of his own. That was my job as a mom; to raise a sweet, kind-hearted hard-worker that had a general idea of what he wanted to do with his life at 18. I did that. And while he’s now been gone for two years and I still miss him like crazy every day he’s at school, I’m also so proud of what he’s accomplished and I know that he is having amazing experiences that he’ll never forget.
A few days ago I was speaking to a teacher who had gone to the graduation of students she taught that had a serious impact on her and her teaching. She does not yet have children of her own so she claimed to have no comparison to a child’s graduation, yet described the myriad of feelings that accompany this time of year and not a single feeling she described was different than a parents’. She loved those kids. She was so proud of them. She cried like a banshee. So for the engaged, connected, loving teachers who have graduating students, I want you to know this:
This is your labor of love coming to fruition. All your hard work, the late nights developing lesson plans, the lunch periods you spent with struggling students, the arguments you thwarted and the high-fives and hugs you gave out…this is your outcome. Being the support in raising kids to graduate and move on with their lives – this was your job as a teacher. You provided them with loving security throughout their days and they are now their own versions of success, you did it. So go ahead and be sad that you’ll miss them. You helped raise amazing people with the potential to change the world. Go ahead and think that you’ll never have another class that will affect you as they did (you will). But send them off knowing that you did the best job you possibly could.
My younger son is graduating this year. I am going to miss the humor he brings to my days and the random teenage-boy hugs he gives his mom, but I do fully understand that I am sending him off to start the life that I have been hoping he’d have for the last 18 years. And, I am well-aware that I could not have done it without the help of his teachers, who may be in the audience on Wednesday, expecting to miss him almost as much as I will. So, to them, thanks for your help. We did well.
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