Even though my head is full of dreams of the fantastical, my real life jobs center around child care. Not only do I help manage summer camps here in Japan, but I also work in an elementary school.
The school I work out now has a special meeting a few times a year where the teachers meet together in the library and openly discuss the difficulties our students are facing. These difficulties range from personal, to academic, to social.
It should come as no surprise that what is discussed in these meetings is highly confidential. I’m only bringing it up for two reasons:
1) Even with the occasional frustrations faced with any workplace, I continue to feel fortunate that I work in a place that is so active in wanting to better itself, and provide a better atmosphere for our students.
2) As a parent, these meeting serve as a reminder as to how profound parents can affect their children. And how fragile kids can be. I leave these meetings feeling incredibly tired (physically from the long day and mentally from parsing specialized language in my non-native tongue) but also really wanting to go home and connect with my own family.
Deadly Troubadour 