“I feel sick with worry because I am here, and she is there. Every single moment of every single day I see the potential behind my daughter’s beautiful brown eyes. My biggest fear is that others will not see the same things in her.”
‘When I send my daughter to school, it hurts. My heart skip beats. My cheeks are hot, tingly.’: Mom is ‘worried sick’ about daughter with disabilities being accepted at school
‘When they flinch from the stapler dropping, it’s because they weren’t sure if you’re throwing it at them.’: Foster mom pens powerful note to teacher warning of her children’s trauma
“They come from a really, really hard place. The kind of abuse you think can’t be real. They duck for cover. You’ve heard of fight or flight? There is also freeze. One of my kids responds with ‘freeze.’ Her eyes grow wide and her voice silences. It’s how she’s trained herself to survive. My kids need to know you are safe.”
‘I’m nervous leaving my kid with a stranger. This year may be tough for him.’: Mom hopes son’s teacher will ‘be patient’ with her, she’s still ‘learning to let go’
“My biggest fear is that he will get labeled the ‘bad kid’ in his class. Actually, if I’m being honest – my biggest fear is that he will start to believe he actually is a bad kid. I’m nervous about mean kids. I’m nervous he could become one of the mean kids.”
‘We are not your ‘typical’ family. We are white parents with a black child.’: Mom sends heartfelt letter to teacher ‘advocating’ for her black son this school year
“Eli is usually the only black student in his classroom. We are not a ‘colorblind’ family. Eli’s hair is a big part of who he is and how he expresses himself. Please don’t let anyone touch it without his permission. Please provide him with colored paper, pencils or markers that represents his skin color. Not many teachers in our small town think about this subject.”
‘My principal emailed me. She added another student to my roster. ‘But come talk to me when you get a chance. I have to tell you her story.’ Rewind 7 years.’
“She saw the terror in my eyes. The office lady leaned in to whisper, ‘The guidance counselor will be in shortly.’ He just stood there. Looking up at me with his big, empty, chocolate eyes. In that moment, I could peek into his soul. I knew I was in that classroom, at that moment, for him.”
‘His teacher suddenly jumped on the desk. He started walking across each one, to make sure every single eye was on him.’
“I’ll never forget when he had them throw their history books on the ground and tell them how they got it all wrong that day, and made choices that would come back to haunt them.”
‘We had a school lockdown. We weren’t sure if it was a drill. Something seemed off. It was rushed and abrupt. I had pangs of worry, but didn’t show it.’
“One tall football player who looked like a grown man, beard and all, pressed me with questions I didn’t want to answer. The classroom was full, and all eyes were on me. A group text with my colleagues had begun. Rumors of a gun in the school. My insides knotted up.”
‘In truth, I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to be (just) me anymore. I have found such comfort and safety in being a mother.’
“I was married young. I was pregnant soon after. I followed my husband’s career and livelihood. And all I keep hearing is: ‘Well, what are you going to make of this, Wendy?'”
‘In the spirit of being vulnerable, honest, and 40, I present Lies Moms Tell Themselves at Back-to-School Time.’
“2: ‘I am going to pack lunches at night.’ Friends, I barely have enough energy to pry open a box of wine and lift the remote to turn on Bachelor in Paradise. I mean, I find the energy, but not all heroes wear capes.”
‘When he first joined our family after losing both of his parents, these two were BEST friends. Lately though? They fight like cats and dogs. They are SO mean to each other.’
“They got along so well it felt like a fairy tale. But things quickly took a huge spiral downwards. My husband and I laid in bed going, ‘What in the world is happening right now? Why are they fighting so much?'”
