Parent Teacher Conferences

This week I had my first round of parent teacher conferences for the school year. The first significant fact: this was my first round of conferences with parents after knowing I will never have children. The second significant fact: I don't really have much to say about it all. Ha!

I met with parents. I listened to their concerns and celebrations. I did my best to make them feel supported and to make them feel confident in the education their child was receiving from me. And...

That's about it. There wasn't much else to it.

No sadness, no comments, no longing, no stinging, no feelings of loss or shame or embarrassment because I don't have children. (I have felt all of these things, and many more, throughout the years.)

I love their kids. And I work with a lot of reluctant learners and they have a lot of undesirable behaviors. And I genuinely like every one of my students. It's awesome. I spend all day with them. And then I go home. I honestly love it.

I write this post to celebrate my progress, and I write this post to share my joy. But ultimately, I write this post to give hope to women who are where I was just three years ago. (There's no way I would've believed that MY life could get better just five years ago, but I would've found comfort in reading that some other woman's life got better at least.)