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June 4, 2010: ALMOST

My two-year-old son’s favorite word is “almost,” and he uses it to describe his endless attempts to score a basket, catch a ball or make a goal. He loves this word, because it indicates an opportunity to play just a little longer, “almost, Mami, otra vez!” and so he gleefully misses several attempts on purpose, or not, knowing that I’ll play along until he makes that one last shot.


I’m sure this word pops up these days with your own children as they talk about the fact that we’re not quite done with the school year but ALMOST. There is still a little bit more time to learn, time with our classmates and friends, time with our teacher, time in the routine that, even though it can be hard, marks our lives so dramatically. This is a time of celebrating, of closures, presentations, final fieldtrips, and goodbyes. It is an exciting time for children, but also one that causes disequilibrium, because on top of the impending change, we are all tired.  We assume that since vacation is coming, everyone must be happy and thrilled, when in fact there is a mixture of emotions that children experience, leading to more conflicts with classmates or siblings, changes in behavior, and misunderstandings. If your child is going through this, or is feeling worried about next year, know that it is normal. It is an important time to maintain our expectations for children and to stick to routine as much as possible, but to also open-up dialogues and acknowledge that they may be elated in the morning that school is almost done, only to come home in the afternoon disappointed that they have such a short time left with their classmates.


One way to turn-around this mixed-bag of emotions is to focus our attention on celebrating their accomplishments, and the children are approaching a commendable achievement: completing their first or yet another year of study in their educational career. Their work merits celebration and recognition, and I encourage all of us to acknowledge the smallest and greatest achievements that have been made by your children this year.  Take the time to consider all of the learning, participating, reading, listening, thinking, problem-solving, and doing that they did. It’s amazing!


It goes without saying that these achievements are obtained in great part due to your commitment as parents: supporting the work that we do as a school, homework help, listening to your child read aloud, supervising computer time, reading school emails and checking website updates, attending student presentations, learning about the various ways to multiply and divide, the driving back-and-forth, the play-dates to encourage healthy friendships, forms and funds for fieldtrips, etc. Just thinking of it all makes it very clear: it’s time for a break!

Celebrate what you have achieved for your children and what they have achieved for themselves.  If you haven’t already, develop your own tradition to commemorate the highlights of the school year and recognizing as a family that what each person contributed and achieved this year has importance.


Almost. Just a few more weeks, one last shot. As I tell my son, I’ll be here until you make it, until we all make it, que me quedo hasta el final.


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