hope for my children

I got a call today from my younger daughter's teacher.

You know the feeling, no matter that you know you've done nothing wrong, you feel like you're on trial. I should have known better. The last time she called me was to tell me that she thought my daughter was smarter than she was showing. The teacher told me she was going to push her harder and see what happens. It worked.

Today she told me something that I've known for a long time: my daughter is really very smart. I have been concerned for quite some time that my little girl has a reading disorder, but her teacher has completely laid that fear to rest. My girl is not only a good reader, but she is reading well above her grade level.

What this teacher really called to tell me is that she has discovered that my girl is not a visual learner, but an auditory, kinesthetic learner. What this means is that writing and reading aren't her strong learning skills, but learning through listening and physically doing are. She sees things either in minute detail or as big picture and has a challenge transferring one to the other.

OK, now you are wondering why I'm regaling you with the praises of my genius daughter. The reason is this: no matter how much we don't want to live vicariously through our children, subconsciously, I think that we all do.

This 3rd party praise of my daughter made me feel like I'd done my job as a mom. It helped to relieve a lot of the anxiety that I didn't realize that I had about the school establishment recognizing what I'd always known: my daughter, who doesn't get as high marks as her older sister, is incredibly smart! She simply learns in different ways that, historically, haven't been rewarded by schools. Because of this, I have feared that she would become discouraged by the lack of affirmation by her teachers and then quit trying to excel.

I love the fact that the educational system is beginning to really understand different types of intelligences. This gives me reason to hope that all children will be able to feel free to explore whatever form of learning is best for them.