The importance of you
Appreciate yourself
Believe me, you are very important! You are building the foundations of a child’s future. What you do now can have massive repercussions in a child’s later life. So you deserve the best support.
Twice recently I have been shaken by people’s perspective of what we do. One person was my Plummer. He came to fix the hot water as I went out to work and asked “What do you do?” Before I could answer he suggested “Not much.” Then when I told him what I actually do, he made some other annoying comment, basically meaning the same thing; not much. On the other occasion I was flying to New York. The lady sitting next to me was a mental health nurse, and she spoke of the fantastic work she does, but not having enough funding, being short staffed, etc. (Sound familiar?) I have utmost respect for this lady and told her I was once a nurse. Then I told her what I did now, and she replied: “So you chose something easier.”
Both really annoying! However, I was really diplomatic, because:
I needed hot water really badly and…
I had to spend another seven hours with this lady, and I really did respect the work she did, and she was lovely. Misinformed but lovely.
Our work isn’t always recognised as important. People don’t often realise we are very busy with our children, planning their learning, reporting their progress, as well as being a sole HR practitioner, accountant, responsible for health and safety, the safeguarding officer, the training organiser, the problem solver, the supervisor, sorting out funding, in charge of resources and materials, working together with parents and special needs people, conducting self evaluations… (Is it me or am I turning blue reciting this list?)
We do so much in our job, and not just in our place of work. I am often up late at night doing management tasks and I know I’m far from alone in this. What I’m trying to say is that I know what you do, I appreciate what you do and what you have to do. Good job everyone! And don’t forget to take some “me time” once in a while.