30 Day Challenge

Here's my challenge folks... I'm going to blog every day for 30 days straight. I guess today would be day one so here goes.

Ten things I've learned through working at a school:
1. Once you meet a parent, you can automatically see why their kid turned out the way they did (good or bad). Very rarely do parent/kid pairs suprise me.
2. Yelling at me doesn't get you what you want. In fact, you should never yell at the person doing your college recs!
3. No, I'm not going to change your schedule because you "can't sweat in the morning." Get over it, I have nothing else to put you in other than a freshman computer class and you've already complained about that!
4. Just because our office is called "Guidance" doesn't mean that we know everything. Sometimes people contact us for locker combinations or ask us when the Varsity baseball game is. We're smart, we just don't know all of the answers.
5. Yes, counselors need counseling sometimes too.
6. You can always tell the teacher who had a horrible time in high school. They're always out to get the "popular" kids and they want to save the others.
7. No, you probably won't get into UGA. Yes, it's because you have a 2.9 and no AP classes. Don't waste your money, apply somewhere else.
8. Always make the secretaries, lunch ladies, and custodians your friend. You never know when you will need their help!
9. If you don't like kids, then don't teach. Summers off are nice, but let's try not to screw up every kid in your class please!
10. No matter how crazy, frustrating, or hectic life at a school can be, it's the times when you know you actually helped a kid that keeps you going. It makes all the crazy things disappear for that one moment.

This week has been 11th grade advisement at our school and I've seen kids and parents every thirty minutes apart. The parents are so eager for their kids to figure out what they want to do in college. It's amazing how many kids and parents aren't on the same page about college, classes, and life. Sometimes what we want for others isn't always right. May favorite thing is when parents say. "Well when I was in high school, they didn't do it this way." Funny you should say that because what we do this year is completely different from what we did last year. Nothing stays the same- can be good or bad. I'm learning through others how I want to parent my kids.

So here's the moral of my story- Be a parent. Put some boundaries in place. Say no. Check up on your kids. Don't be a cool friend, be a lame mom. And most of all, say "I love you."