Relationship Reflections

                                      Relationships Reflections

These are the most important relationships I have in my life-my children and their growing families!

Wow! There are a lot of them. I guess having five children tends to create a mob scene when placed all together, but I wouldn't have it any other way. We have had our share of ups and downs but somehow we always seem to come through them stronger and closer than before. Having so many separate individuals in one family teaches us to be kind and forgiving of each other which is important. I feel this dynamic group tends to teach each other tolerance for another which goes beyond the family unit. The challenges we have faced were growing up and me letting go and now it is just plain distance and busy schedules. We are partners as well because when one hurts we all hurt and when one needs help we are all there for them. Right now we are all struggling with the sudden and unexpected loss of their father a few short months ago which is -hard.

I also wanted to add this partnership. These are not only my TA's but work friends. I refer to them as work friends because we spend seven and a half hours five days a week together for ten months, we better learn to get a long. We do a lot of laughing together to help us cope with a job we love yet is intensely stressful and at times heart-breaking. We have learned over the years that our differences make a strong team and it has shown itself to our superiors and families who most often want us for siblings coming up. The biggest challenge is we are from different cultures. I am not just stating the obvious but in our family upbringing and child rearing theories as well. These differences sometimes present themselves in our teaching styles and so we have had to learn to talk about this without hurt or angry feelings.

These various relationships have taught me how to give and take when building relationships with my Head Start families. It helps me to notice body language when discussing some topics. It has taught me to be patient when building trust with the families. I have also learned the family-teacher relationship cannot be all one-sided or thinking I know it all. The families I have worked with have taught me so much more than I could ever learn in a book.