I enrolled Kit in an after school program for hyperactive and high energy kids today. The woman who runs the program is an ADD specialist and handles 60 wild and often out of control kids day after day. Three days ago Buddy and I met with Kit's teachers and educational specialists - all kind and caring women. The same thing with the Special Ed team that Doc needed for his speech help last spring. At the library, the director and staff are great women who, while taking care of adult patrons like me, deal with kids all the time. The children's librarian creates and runs hundreds of programs a year and they love her.The sponsor for the dances that Tio goes to was the mother of a teen who decided to continue even after her daughter grew up. The woman who runs a local teen and children's theater company works full time at a day job only to do this in her evenings and weekends for love of kids and the performance arts.
This list goes on - daycare center, teen center, welfare investigators, you name it. These women are the underpinning of the well being of our kids. Much of what they do is thankless and goes unseen. They have chosen careers that sprouted from their love of working with kids. Their compassion and patience is astounding. They continue to smile and stay positive even when they're exhausted and need to put their feet up and shut the world out.
It's been that way since time began, the women in our lives that guided and cared for us as girls and boys growing up. There are men who take this on, but not many by comparison (a shout out goes to our great town rec director) and I'm an exception as a grandfather/caretaker since that usually falls to the grandmas.
I'm delighted every time I open a new door in this town to meet another strong, smart capable woman contributing to the betterment of our kids. Thank you all for the time and dignity you give to our children. Their world would not be so bright without you.
As a footnote - it is probably a strange sight for the school to see a father and son show up for parent/teacher meetings. Buddy and I look an odd couple sitting in those tiny chairs.
