Mother's Day

Yesterday was Mother’s Day, and although I’m not a mother in the traditional sense, I feel a little bit like the day was for me too …

I may not have any biological children, but I routinely “mother” sixty kids every single week day from 8:20 to 2:45 (and sometimes later if they are waiting for rides). Divided up between the four grades that I teach, that’s thirteen sixth graders, fifteen fifth graders, seventeen seventh graders (many of which, if they were truly mine, I’d want to disown or, at the very least, send away to military school), and fifteen eighth graders.

They are black, white, Hispanic, Asian, and many other mixtures of one or more.

They are Muslim, Hindu, Catholic and many other Christian denominations.

They have been residents of the Cleveland area for their whole lives, or they have moved here from worlds away for a better future.

They come from homes with single-parents, homes with happily married parents, homes run by their grandparents, and homes containing blended families (which could mean that they are living with a parent’s girlfriend or boyfriend, step-parents, step-siblings, or half siblings). Sometimes they know who their father is, and sometimes they do not. Sometimes they don’t care to know him anyway.

They are smart, funny, artistic, kindhearted, helpful, idealistic, irresponsible, disrespectful, annoying, aggressive, and angry.

They are obsessed with appearances and just screaming for attention … Sometimes this is because they like the drama, other times it is because they just need someone to show them love and acceptance.

They think they know everything about the world around them and how to manipulate the system of authority figures that they encounter each day. They think that they are old enough to watch R-rated movies and have MySpace pages set to "public."

They yearn for more than what they have been given, but yet they often lack the drive and the perseverance to go out and actually get it.

These are my kids.

They are everything that I want, and everything that I (definitely) do not want for my future children.

They have earned a special place in my heart and show me, all too often, that I am human and have so much more to learn.