Best Approval

Tonight at dinner I asked the boys if they liked all their teachers at school (ya know- librarian, PE, music, classroom, etc). Thankfully, Gavin and James love them all. Brad told them of how he didn't like his 1st grade teacher... he remembers her being kind of mean. Then I said the only teacher I didn't like was my 7th grade teacher. When asked why, I told them that she didn't really like me so I didn't like her. She wasn't very nice and was kind of hard on me. This particular teacher was one of 'those' teachers... the one who is too aware of who the 'cool' kids are and plays favoritism. I would never be described as one of the 'cool' kids in any of my years of schooling. I let them know that back then, I wanted to be cool and accepted. Now, I am really grateful I wasn't because it just isn't who I am. James immediately goes, "Mom, I like your nerdiness." (or something to that affect... can't remember it exactly). Best compliment ever! Then Jack said, "I like you, Mommy!". Why is the approval and love of a child just the best?!?! Love it. The boys started talking about how they don't want to be cool, they just want to be who they are. Hopefully it sticks. I mean, if they end up in the cool crowd, great (?). But... I want these kids to know that just being them is the best thing of all. Be with those that make you have fun and be comfortable and have your same standards. Life is simpler than you think sometimes and this is one of those times. 

A Real Hero

Funny... I've been meaning to write this post all week and haven't gotten around to it. But it works out perfectly with what I'm going to say and what today is.

Last week James told me that he got to watch videos about Martin Luther King, Jr. He was so excited to tell me all that he knew. James started asking me questions about why things were the way they were back then... man, reality right here. So I asked him if he knew what segregation was and he said, "Yeah, it's when you have things separated." This was big for me because James isn't the most focused boy, but when he is, he is. Learning about MLK definitely had his attention. And his history-loving mama was all to excited to talk to him about it. I asked him if he had heard about Rosa Parks and he kind of knew her story so we went over it again. This is what I love about children- James was just having a plain hard time understanding why it even happened. Aren't we all, buddy... aren't we all. We had a good 15-20 minute conversation about it all. Sounds short, but for him it wasn't. James was trying to remember a speech that Mr. King had given so we started looking up quotes by him. It was really enlightening. I hate to say this, but I didn't realize how many wonderful things Martin Luther King, Jr. had said. I knew he gave great speeches, but I had never really looked into it that much. While we were looking, James just starts crying. His little heart was just breaking thinking about why some person would kill such a great man who was doing the right thing. Oh, you sweet boy.  We've talked about putting different prints up in James' room, so I asked him if he'd like a quote from MLK up in his room as well. I've been looking on pinterest and etsy, and though there are some good ones, I haven't really seen any I want yet. I might just design one  myself in the end, who knows. 

I asked James if Martin Luther King, Jr. was his hero. He said yes. I didn't realize how special this moment would be. His first real hero. A real person who did GOOD things and lived a good life. Not just some fictional super hero or knight or prince from the old times. But a real person with real words for my little boy to look up to and admire. My little boy is growing up :) I know the super heroes and the knights are not going anywhere, and that is great. But how wonderful to have his world open to someone who lived.