Summer Bittersweet

School's out for summer! Only one more week and we have completed another year. Sure, we are all excited to sleep in and not be stressing over assessments and lesson plans but teachers everywhere are a little sad. Saying goodbye to the family that is formed in our classrooms is bittersweet. The little ones have grown into their readiness to conquer the next grade in their path. Even though we will see them next year on the playground and in the halls it will never be the closed group we form as a class.

Most kids are excited for the summer with all their travel plans and social calendars full up. However, there are those youngsters who will be alone for most of their days this summer, just the TV and video games to keep them company. Still others dread being home with the parents who treat them as invisible or the ones who let them slave away. All kids deserve to be nurtured and challenged but not all will be.

For some kiddos, the school is their safe place where their medical and emotional needs are met as well as their academic needs. That is the toughest part of teaching. When we know there are unfit or unsafe conditions for kids to go home to. But we have little control but to call and report any abuse or neglect we see. During the year the school is there for them. Summer looms with dread for those who need school so desperately.

My prayer is for these children who turn to us to be there for them when others can't or won't. I pray this summer their little selves that each of them feels they can reach out to someone in their lives and get what they need and deserve.

In Him,
Joyful