Encouragement

Encourage. To encourage. Encouraging.

It's something a parent tries to be to their child. I like to encourage their inquisitiveness...until they ask too many questions! I like to encourage their creativity.....until they make too much mess. I like to encourage their tastes....until they ask to listen to One Direction!  No, truly, I want to encourage my children.

I want to encourage my own two girls, and also the children I teach. I have one or two with low self esteem so I try harder to encourage them. They all work so hard and make great progress. I'd love to have more time to encourage them further.

Encouragement is something that can be so badly lacking between adults. My family are very  encouraging. My girls are a constant source of encouragement, and my husband encourages me (as long as it fits in with basketball!!), but within work there is little encouragement. Not just in my school, but in so many. It breaks my heart to hear teachers feeling so depressed, being treated so badly, and feeling so bad about themselves. One of the members of management at my school constantly tells me I have low self-esteem. Yes, they are right. It's a product of constantly being told I'm doing everything wrong.

So in order to encourage me to encourage the children I'm working with, maybe I need to be encouraged. God encourages us. He asks us to love Him, and to love others. Some people are much harder to love than others, but we should try. And keep trying.

So I'm trying.....hard. And I promise to keep trying, so do keep encouraging both me and each other.