Be the One: A message for Mother’s Day
All it takes is ONE. All it takes to tip the scales in a child’s life is One adult, just One adult who cares enough to listen, to guide, to help illuminate a path. That One forms a personal relationship of mutual respect with the child. That One has time for the child. That One celebrates the child’s honest (not inflated) accomplishments. That One gently but firmly underscores the gap between what is and what should be. That One plays games and reads or just listens to what happened at recess or at home last night. That One helps imagine what might be and helps draw the dotted line for how to get there. All it takes is One.
How many kids never have that One? For so many reasons, we know that some parents and guardians struggle to be the One. They may not know how. They may never have had One in their own lives. They may not be emotionally or financially capable of escaping their own limits to be the One for someone else. Or they may simply not care.
These things just don’t come out evenly. Many kids have far more than One. You may be thinking, “One? What happened to ‘it takes a village?'” Yes, there are plenty of kids who are blessed with many, many Ones in their lives. They have loving, involved parents, grandparents, even neighbors. They may have a single parent, but that parent makes sure he/she is the One. They have more than one teacher who serves is the One for multiple students every year. Kids flock back years later to see these same teachers as the fan club for the One.
Rita Pierson’s Every Kid Needs a Champion TED Talk is about being the One. It brings tears to my eyes because I can hear and see (and even smell) the kids she talks about who need us, as teachers, to be the One for them.
Mother’s Day honors moms, and we moms certainly appreciate it! But Mother’s Day also underscores the gap between what is and what should be. If you are, have, or had a mom who was the One, consider yourself very lucky. But please don’t forget about the kids who still need just One. Watch Rita Pierson’s TED talk.
BE the ONE.
