The Neuroquirky Teacher

I saw an image swirling around of parents speaking “flowers” into their child’s ears and then the flowers coming out of the child’s mouth. (I can’t find it now.)

It made me think, “This is lovely, but what about what needs to happen for the parents first? How do we speak flowers into their ears if we’re filling our own with dirt and trash?”

I find that when I’m short-tempered and reactive toward the girls, my mind is usually running some awful narrative about me. Why did I yell? Am I signing them up for enough things? Am I spending enough quality time with them? Why can’t I remember anything? Why didn’t I respond differently? Why didn’t I do something “productive” instead of staring at a wall for 20 minutes?

It’s hard to love on my children when I’m being hard on myself.

In this culture of doing everything for our children and lifting them up even if it means our faces are in the dirt for them to see the sunshine, it’s difficult to remember that we are worth loving and being cared for.

Maybe our faces don’t have to be pressed into the dirt. Maybe we can hold their hands while climbing a mountain, together, so that we can both bask in the sunshine at the top.

I don’t know if this sentiment resonates with anyone else, but here it is anyway.

Happy early Valentine’s Day, you wonderful, deserving, beautiful people 💛🫶🏻

Love this comparison even more than the square peg in a round hole one 💛

🥺

“At school I feel like I am a star shape being wedged into a square hole. To fit in, I have to break off all my sparkly points… but they are my best bits.” - George

Art by on IG