"You'll understand someday . . . "

Like any caring parents would, my mother and father always had (and still has) some key phrases. They'd usually say them when trying to make a point or teaching me a lesson. "Slow down", "It's not what you say; it's how you say it", "don't put all of your eggs in one basket" are among my favorites. And like any caring parents, they usually said, "You'll understand someday when you're a parent". Currently, I am not a parent. And I am not sure I will ever be, but I think I understand what they were saying: parenting is the hardest job a person can ever have. It's quite possibly the least and most rewarding job all wrap into one. Typically a person doesn't get paid to be a parent--he/she has to pay to do it--has to pay a lot. Not to mention that it comes with little to no training. I often tell my students that I have more training (two degrees and countless hours of practice) to be their teacher than their parents have to be parents. It doesn't matter if you have an older brother/sister, you are a different person and require a different set of parent skills than your siblings. Strategies, rewards, or punishments that worked with one child, often do not work with the other, so parents are left to go to their (limited) bag of tricks and keep trying until they find one that works--much like I do as a teacher of 150 students each year. I deeply believe I wouldn't be the teacher I am today without my parent's love, support and, of course, key phrases. I don't even cringe when I hear myself say them to my students. I just smile and say, "thanks, mom and dad".