End of year awards

With the end of the end of each school year, schools have award ceremonies to honor students who have grown leaps and bounds with their academic growth and also to honor students who are role models for their peers. If you have more than one child in school, this can lead to disappointed siblings.

For me, I know that is the case. I have five children in school...next year I will have six. This past week my children held their annual awards ceremony and two of my children were honored. This left one of my other children feeling sad and disappointed. You see, at this annual awards ceremony students receive the holy grail of awards...a medal that they can wear along with a certificate. This medal is what I feel every student wants to receive.

My children's school held award ceremonies each quarter to recognize each student but certificates were the only thing that were handed out. My daughter who felt left out the other night received a certificate three times this year and I know it made her feel proud of herself but watching her siblings receive a medal left her feeling sad.

We discussed being humble and appreciative that she was recognized at all this year because I can guarantee there are students who went all year with no recognition for their hard work. We discussed how we need to be happy for others and congratulate them but when your child is in the midst of their teenage years, it can be hard to look beyond oneself.

At the awards ceremony, some of our fabulous parents also received an award. They were all called up to the stage and our principal recognized them. My kids all looked at me and exclaimed, "I bet you are going to receive an award"! I shook my head and told them that wouldn't be the case. They didn't believe me. My son told me I should because I help him and other kids and also feed him :) That part made me smile.

I tried to use this as a learning experience for my daughter so she could see that even parents aren't always recognized. I am thrilled for the parents who were recognized...they do so much for our school and my kids benefit from that. I couldn't ask for better parents to work with when I am at the school.

I don't help for recognition...it honestly makes me uncomfortable to receive thanks. But I will say the evening of the awards ceremony and the next morning, I did receive some thanks from my kids teachers. I had wrote some of them letters of thanks and hand delivered them and each teacher approached me with tears in their eyes and hugged me. That was the best thanks I could ever receive. I wanted to thank them because they are unsung heroes but in the end, they wanted to thank me. That will stay with me for a very long time.