My Daughter Has a Voice and Uses It Proudly

I spoke with Mrs. D this am, whom let me know she would be moving on to a different school this Fall 2011. She was my daughter's "EA" or Educational Assistant for the first two years of her school career.

The blessings received from this woman for Kid have been so vast that I cannot list them all in one simple blog post. However, my heart was beating hard and deep as I drove away from our conversation that Mrs. D and I shared today. I was recalling the several tearful, frustrated exchanges I had with school administrators regarding my daughter's "limitations" rather than her strengths. And here we are, graduating "Grade 2".

I see Kid, a child sitting reading another "chapter book" like the Wimpy Kid series or her 12-volume Princess Anthology. Then I wonder what life would have been like without Mrs. D's help in the early classroom days. We struggled each night to get the homework done that began the first two weeks of Junior Kindergarten. Reading, Math, Spelling, it was all overwhelming to my then 4-year-old. But we stewarded on, trying different learning methods that Mrs. D constantly reviewed or reinvented to suit Kid's circumstances. This kind EA also reports that Kid speaks up with no inhibitions, speaking her mind in class. She encourages me to remind Kid not to lose this ability, this strength she possesses.

She is a wonderful soul, full of purpose and light. I'm speaking of Mrs. D but that same statement applies to kid with a capital "K". Kid has shown me and taught me what tenacity looks like in action. Never give up, my late Dad Frank would say, never give up.

Final Grade 2 report card looming, Kid's last test came back at 94% in her "fully alive" social studies programme. I am relieved not at the mark received but the beaming, proud, half-toothless grin of my daughter, the warrior princess I constantly aspire to be. Thanks for the teachable moments, Kid and Mrs D. I look forward to many more hereafter, happily so.