Archive for September 2015

I Think I Know What I Want To Be When I Grow Up

9:10 AM 5 Comments A+ a-

Right before I moved to the UK I earned my BS in Technical Management. It is a pretty general business degree. I haven't used it in the 7 years that I have lived here. At the time I was earning it I wasn't even sure what I would do with it. I was just determined that I would have a degree. It was a little short sighted of me. I have saddled myself with student loan debt, and have very little to show for it other than a piece of paper that confirms that I have an education. Meh. I am just going to chalk this one up to being young and pig headed in my determination.

For the past year I have been working as a substitute teacher at my younger daughters elementary school. I absolutely love my job. I love the children. I love seeing their minds work. I love the environment. I feel energized and ready to tackle anything that comes my way each and every time I walk into that building. I think I have found my calling in the field of education.

My problem now is that we are moving from the UK and I will need to find a new job in North Dakota. I have been looking online and have found several possible jobs that I am interested in applying for when I get to the tundra. I have also been thinking about getting my masters degree in elementary education. This excites me and terrifies me at the same time. I love school, but I just want to make sure that I am absolutely positive that I am stearing myself in the right direction.

I hear a lot about teacher burn out. I know it is a tough job that requires a special personality. I wonder if I have what it takes. Time to do some research.

Model Behavior

7:00 AM 2 Comments A+ a-

Often times I sit around an think about what sort of influence I am really having on my children.  They are fed, clothed and supported by my husband and I, but are they really being molded by our actions? What sort of influence are we having on them in comparison to their peers and the culture that we live in? Are we making a big enough difference? These thoughts bother me when they are doing things that drive me mad, such as fighting me about chores or homework. Then I have moments where I am relieved because I see them do amazing selfless acts of kindness with no prompting. 

La, has recently been begging me to bake cookies on her own in my kitchen.  She over the weekend made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and then shared them with the rest of the neighborhood.  All the kids loved them, except one.  He wasn't allowed to have any because he is gluten intolerant. 

The fact that her friend was not allowed to have her cookies made La pretty upset.  Not to mention that I am sure that her friend was pretty upset seeing all the other kids in the neighborhood getting treats that he wasn't allowed to have.  This situation sent La into action.  She told her friends mom that she wanted to bake him cookies that he could have.  Luckily, his mom had the ingredient on hand for gluten free chocolate chip cookies.

She mixed them up under my supervision.  I only watched because I wanted to make sure she followed the directions carefully because we both had never baked gluten free before.  She then tested the dough before she baked them making a "ewww" face. 

I then reminded her "You know, you're doing a very kind thing!"
To which she responded by saying "By making really bad cookies..."
To which I burst out laughing.  Then gathering myself, I told her they would probably taste better when they were baked, which they did. 

Her friend was overjoyed to get cookies all to himself that La had baked.  Then that is when it clicked for me.  Although, she has always had a kind heart, she has also always seen kindness modeled for her. If anyone has ever been in need, my husband and I are always willing to lend a hand.  I am not trying to toot my own horn.  In fact, I think being kind is just a basic part of being a good human being. It has always been something that I strive to be in my daily life.

Now, I have seen some pretty awful things adults do to each other. Our children see pretty horrible things in life, on the news and portrayed on television every day.  As parents can we do enough to outweigh the influence the outside world has on our kids? Can we model the behavior that we want our children to repeat?  Can we make our kids be a positive influence in a seriously flawed world? I think we can.  Although sometimes it can be difficult to see it when they are throwing a tweenaged tantrum about how the world isn't fair because they need to clean their room, they really are soaking in the lessons that we are teaching them.  I just hope that I can keep up with the lessons I need to teach them. 

Reading Festival

8:21 AM 0 Comments A+ a-

The one thing my husband swore he was going to do before we left the UK was go to see an outdoor music festival.  When he heard that Metallica was headlining the 2nd day of Reading Festival, well, needless to say he was determined that we were going to go to Reading Festival.  Metallica is his favorite band of all time and we last saw them in concert right before we moved over here.

The day started really early in the morning with us handing our children off to some very kind neighbors who kept them for the day and over night.  Then we hit the road.  It took us nearly 4 hours to get there due to horrible traffic on the M25, but we kind of expected that. After that little bit of horrible was whole a lot of epic.










We saw eight acts in an afternoon.  The energy was amazing.  Metallica played 18 songs over two and a half hours.  I was so buzzing after the end of their set I didn't even mind the hour long walk back to the car.  Bucket list item- check.

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