Parma Plan It: Mother's Day

I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day. If you are a mom or had the opportunity to spend the day with your mom, I hope your day was spent in laughter, fun and love. I am sure anyone who reads this knows that my mom, Patsy, means the world to me. I am blessed and am so thankful she knows you and you know her! I wish all of our kids were as lucky as I am!!

Quotable:
"That best academy, a mother's knee." ~James Russell Lowell.

Highlights this Week:

Monday, May 14: Happy Birthday Sue Crawford
Monday, May 15: 9:00 SE Team Meeting
Wednesday, May 16: PLC Assembly grades k - 2
Thursday, May 17: 6:30 School Board Meeting
Friday, May 18: Michigan Breakfast and assemblies
Friday, May 18: 2:45 Pizza with the Principal

Priceless Experiences:

One of my favorite things about going on field trips with our students is watching them with their parents. It is nice to see the one on one time our kids get when it is just them and their mom or dad. I know that so many of our kids don't get that time and attention every day, so it truly is a gift. Our field trips, like Mackinac, offer so many educational and rich experiences for our kids, but the experience that we can't overlook is the valuable time between a parent and child. I try to capture as much as I can on camera, but some of my favorite images are those I never seem to have my camera ready. Often it is a mother and son laughing or a father and son looking out over the water, or a daughter resting or getting warm in her mom's arms. It is in that moment that I realize that though at times it seems inadequate, those moms and dads love and adore the kids with whom they entrust to us. Unfortunately, my realization doesn't stop there. It is also in those moments that I realize just how much many of our kids are missing. There is always the child not picked up. The child who didn't pack appropriately. The child whose parent simply drops him off and leaves without checking in with the teacher or hugging him goodbye. It is that child that we must also remember. It is that child that it truly is up to us to make sure every experience includes someone to laugh with, someone to notice the water or the big boats, someone to make sure he/she is warm enough, someone to make sure he/she has an amazing experience.

Thank you for all the extra work and time spent in scheduling field trips for our kids. I hope you realize that they offer so much more than feeding the giraffes, seeing the stars, watching the Titanic sink, eating at the Grand Hotel with 6 pieces silverware, seeing Chicago from the sky, etc. These truly are once in a lifetime experiences for so many of our kids.....and for our parents. The time this gives them together is priceless.