Praise
A little over 7 years ago, I was very ill with my pregnancy with my little one and decided to quit work then, instead of waiting until the end of my pregnancy to quit, which was the original plan. After leaving the world of school and grades, and leaving the world of work, promotions, and awards, I realized the relief of not living up to someone's standards was fantastic. I also realized, there's no way to know if you're doing a good job. Making it through pregnancy sure felt like an accomplishment, all the vomit was worth it when I held my sweet 10 and a half pound newborn. I was a typical first time mom with loads of opinions and read every book/magazine/blog I could find to see how much to feed this little person, how much she should sleep, and what milestones she should be going through. I used those to judge how well she was doing (and how well I was doing). When Kara was a "late bloomer" with the crawling, I left the books behind and appreciated where she was in our day to day lives. She was advanced in other things, and that's fine. But, a smile from my sweet baby (which she so readily gave me any time I even looked at her....or even if I didn't look at her) was all the praise I needed. I was a good mom - I could tell because I was adored by this person I was taking care of.
Life moves on and terrible twos hit, pressures of potty training, then preschool and beyond, all the while trying to keep a clean/organized house, be a good wife, a good friend, and a good sister/daughter. It all adds up and you don't get monthly/semi-annual reviews. You don't see if you're doing a great job, need work, or somewhere in between. My husband is good at many things, but words of affirmation is not his gift.
Weeks go by, months, years.
I am not back to work, but I sort of have a part time job home schooling Kara (in addition to raising her as a person (vs a student), keeping the house, trying to impress my ever unimpressible husband with dinners, coupon shopping, exercising, doing Bible study, being a good friend, etc, etc, etc). Well, today was my first review!! I was going to be told whether I am doing a good job or not. Friends and family have been an amazing support group and have told me I'm doing a good job, which is so nice - and appreciated more than they'll ever know. But I sometimes wonder if I wasn't doing a good job, would they still say that because they just love me and think I'm fantastic no matter what? Anyway, according to my "boss" aka the county officials, I am doing a "Great Job!"
I am officially compliant with what is required from the county. The lady who interviewed us was so sweet and just so encouraging. She told me over and over what a great job I'm doing as a teacher, what a great job Kara is doing as a student, how beautiful my portfolios are, and she was so impressed with all the work I've done to supplement the curriculum we use. Which led me to share with her that I was thinking about doing my own curriculum next year and what did she think? She said I definitely should if I wanted to. She said all I'd have to do is check the county's website that lists what the curriculum for that grade will learn all year and as long as I did that, I'd be good to go! I'm feeling really passionate about that next year, so this is so exciting for me.
Ah, praise. It really goes a long way, doesn't it?
Life moves on and terrible twos hit, pressures of potty training, then preschool and beyond, all the while trying to keep a clean/organized house, be a good wife, a good friend, and a good sister/daughter. It all adds up and you don't get monthly/semi-annual reviews. You don't see if you're doing a great job, need work, or somewhere in between. My husband is good at many things, but words of affirmation is not his gift.
Weeks go by, months, years.
I am not back to work, but I sort of have a part time job home schooling Kara (in addition to raising her as a person (vs a student), keeping the house, trying to impress my ever unimpressible husband with dinners, coupon shopping, exercising, doing Bible study, being a good friend, etc, etc, etc). Well, today was my first review!! I was going to be told whether I am doing a good job or not. Friends and family have been an amazing support group and have told me I'm doing a good job, which is so nice - and appreciated more than they'll ever know. But I sometimes wonder if I wasn't doing a good job, would they still say that because they just love me and think I'm fantastic no matter what? Anyway, according to my "boss" aka the county officials, I am doing a "Great Job!"
I am officially compliant with what is required from the county. The lady who interviewed us was so sweet and just so encouraging. She told me over and over what a great job I'm doing as a teacher, what a great job Kara is doing as a student, how beautiful my portfolios are, and she was so impressed with all the work I've done to supplement the curriculum we use. Which led me to share with her that I was thinking about doing my own curriculum next year and what did she think? She said I definitely should if I wanted to. She said all I'd have to do is check the county's website that lists what the curriculum for that grade will learn all year and as long as I did that, I'd be good to go! I'm feeling really passionate about that next year, so this is so exciting for me.
Ah, praise. It really goes a long way, doesn't it?
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