Cara* is 6 years old. She is enrolled in our Reading Program. Yesterday, the reading material that she was given was about Growing Flowers. Since Cara is already a fast reader, she had no trouble reading the entire paper. She was also able to answer all the reading comprehension questions that follow. That is except for one..
So, the teacher tried to help her out. The teacher, thinking that Cara was having trouble reading the question read it for her. The question went: If you will give a flower, to whom will you give it and why?
The girl didn't answer at first, so the teacher repeated the question. This time, Cara answered in her small voice 'to mama.' So, the teacher asked her some reasons why she would give her mother a flower expecting to hear the usual answers like 'because she takes care of me' and something like that..
To this, the girl cried and said 'because I miss her so much...'
The teacher, assuming that the girl's mother is working abroad tried to console Cara by saying, 'Oh, ok Cara, then maybe when she gets home, you can give her the flower and tell her you missed her..'
The girl cried even more and said.. 'No teacher, my mama is not coming back. She left me and my papa. I don't know where she went. I don't have mama anymore...'
The teacher finally got the picture and hugged Cara tightly and said 'It's alright Cara, wherever your Mama is, I know she thinks of you and that she loves you and cares about you very much...'
The teacher doesn't know if she did or said the right thing, but it was, for her, the safest thing to do. The teacher was crying when she told me the story and I cried with her. And I realize that my children are somehow lucky that I am here. I may not be the perfect mother, but I am a MOTHER and I am with my children and I just realize how important that is..
With Cara in mind, I came to genuinely greet myself a Happy Mother's Day..
*not real name
No comments:
Post a Comment