One proud Pop

[Jon T.]

I wanted to share this letter my wife brought home from my son's school.  One of the proudest moments of my life.

[wolof7]

the world is a beautiful place sometimes, no doubt due to the influence of some good parents...what a kid!

[jaye]

That is beautiful!   :)  And really wonderful for the teacher to take the time to share it. 

As the mother of a child with special needs, I'm so grateful for kids like your son.  Good job!

[johnnYYac]

Well done, Jack!   

Its always nice to hear the good stuff from school, and elsewhere.

[ALady]

Awww!  Good news abounds on here today!

You should be a proud pop indeed!   

[Fully]

As a mother of a child with mild autism who has not always been treated well by her classmates, I have to say that made me cry. I am so proud that there are people in the world like your son. Sometimes adults have been cruel to my daughter, and one would think that they would be bigger than that. However, your son is obviously, at his young age, bigger than that and even more. His kindness will take him far in life.

[Jon T.]

Thanks, peeps. I'ts so cool to read stuff like this - it's beyond words when it's your child. A lot of you know it feels like a constant battle being a parent. You spend a lot of time questioning and second-guessing some of the decisions you make.  It's so neat when you get affirmations like this that say, "hey, you're doing alright". 

My son is 4 and he just told us about his new classmate yesterday.  Yesterday was her first day and my wife said Jack was playing with her when she picked him up. They obviously made a connection.  He still doesn't know her name.

Very thoughtful and special for his teacher to take the time to put it words for us.

radiate the gold

[pawpaw]

:) That made my day.

Happy New Year to you and your family Jon! 

[smhoffmann02]

Well, this made my afternoon.  Kudos to your son and a big well-done to you, the parents.  The apple doesn't typically fall far from the tree.  ::)

What a fantastic story - thank you for sharing.

[Murph]

As on older brother of two severely handicapped kids, that letter made my night.  There needs to be more people out there like your son.  Job well done 

[lucylew]

Thanks for sharing.  That was great.  I don't even have kids and that teared me up.   :dankk2:

[sweatboard]

Nice job Jack and Jack's Parents!!!  Keep up the great work, you are obviously on the right path.   :-* 

So Beautiful, thanks for sharing.

"radiate the gold"  indeed  :)

[bowl of soup]

That is the best thing I have ever seen on the interweb.

[Luna Moth]

Home Run Jack

[Ruckus]

This is awesome Jon.  I forgot to comment when you posted it on FB but yeah, you're a super dad!  I'm contemplating trying to become a school teacher and this makes that kind of work more enticing.

[Tracy 2112]

yep, the fact that the teacher wrote it out and didn't e-mail or text you makes it even tripley better!

Nice work

[Jon T.]

Thanks again err'body!  He's a good kid.  But, in proving he is still just a kid, after opening a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law, he informed us (and her) that it was the worst present he has ever gotten.  Nothing like the honesty of a 4 year old...

Happy New Year to you and your family Jon! 

Same to you, Braden!

  :-* 

"radiate the gold"  indeed  :)

I actually lifted this from you.  I remember reading your interpretation of "radiate the gold" and it resonated with me. So  :-* back atcha!

I'm contemplating trying to become a school teacher and this makes that kind of work more enticing.

That's exciting!  What ages/grades are you thinking about?

[pawpaw]

That letter is pretty awesome, but think about how much better it would've been if she'd signed off like this:

Radiate the Gold,
Ms. Tiffany (I think that's what her name reads as)

Also, what was the present?!  ;D

[Jon T.]

That letter is pretty awesome, but think about how much better it would've been if she'd signed off like this:

Radiate the Gold,
Ms. Tiffany (I think that's what her name reads as)

Also, what was the present?!  ;D

Haha!  The present... It was actually pretty neat.  It was this little art portfolio type thing to carry around his "artwork" and whatnot.  To preface this story, a few days before Christmas, a friend dropped off a couple of gifts for him.  He opened one and said, "that's not even what I wanted".  Not in a bratty way, but in a confused 4 year old way like, "why did I get this".  ;D  Luckily our friend wasn't there and we had a talk with him about how rude that was and blah, blah, blah.  Well, queue Christmas evening the kid was so hopped up on Santa Claus and sugarplums that he was all over the place.  I could tell he didn't even mean it, he just blurted it out because he knew he wasn't supposed to.  Of course I had to act like the stern disciplinarian, but I got a good chuckle on the inside.   :)

[pawpaw]

It's quite a task, teaching kids about "the truth", and when to say what and how to do it appropriately. In his mind, he might've just been saying what he genuinely felt! "But dad, it's the truth!"  ;D

I've got a funny story. I had to go into my office a few weeks ago on a Saturday morning and I brought my son along. I was doing some work on my computer and told him he could explore around this open area of our office. We have a couple old-school drafting tables out there, and one of them has an old pencil sharpener mounted on one of the legs, right at his little height.

So anyway, I'm working, and he comes in with a concerned look on his face.

"Daddy, there's a mess out here."

I follow him out to a trail of pencil shavings on the carpet. I ask him if he did that, and he tells me that he didn't. We'd never recognized a lie from him, this was the first time, so I explained what the truth is, what a lie is, and explained how important telling the truth is...you know, all that. Then I asked him who made the mess.

"Some kids."

"We're the only people here, bud. You need to tell me the truth – who made this mess?"

"You did."

"That's a lie. I don't care about the mess, we can clean this up. You need to tell me the truth – who made this mess."

His little head just dropped, and a hurt look came over his face. "I did."

His little lies were pretty funny, but I held together my stern, fatherly expression the whole time.  ;D