by Carie Moore
We all have our “people” and we all have our village. I realized this morning that many people in my village who help keep my family together aren’t necessarily my people and maybe should get more credit.
It takes a lot of people to get your food from the farm to the table. The same goes for our families and getting us all to the supper table each night.
We have our usual in-laws, friends and close contacts who are always there. I realized my kids also have their “people” who are also part of our village. Their bus drivers, Awana leaders/Sunday School teachers, coaches, lunch servers, principals, piano instructors, you can name a dozen people who are helping to shape who your children will become.
There are teachers/mentors/advisors who go out of their way each and every day to give our kids that extra confidence and security. We need tough-love teachers and those who are understanding, but it’s the ones who see a child or student who needs more and gives it, not because they have to, because they want to that make the greatest impact.
My son has a special teacher who is shaping him to be a better, more social little boy. He trusts her, so she is one of his “people.” How can we not respect positive influences in our children’s lives like this?
For many of us, especially in high school, and for many rural students, their FFA advisor is the person who positively influences us. Many hours during and out of school, they are devoting time and years of knowledge and experience to so many of our teenagers. Keeping them out of trouble, teaching them about the past and the future of so many aspects of ag, and helping them make choices to enhance their future path. FFA advisors and students are a family. They encourage each other, they take road trips together, they laugh and cry together. When you walk into your FFA building or shop, it’s a completely different world within those walls. Anything is possible, and you will be pushed to do what you think is impossible.
To my son’s former teacher who is still on his side, I thank you. Mr. Hanson and Mr. VanBerkom, thank you for making me go above and beyond anything I imagined. So many of my learned skills began with your leadership and dedication to your job.
Your village will always be important and changing, but you never know which ones will become your true people.