YOU are ACCEPTED (1)

When I was a primary school Deputy Principal, selecting children for their following year class was a delicate balancing act for me and other teachers.

Student selection was and is an art not a science. Some students are easy to place and some are not. During this particular year, I’d noticed a student who didn’t fit in with her class. Other students did their best to avoid her. She was a loner and often looked sad. It wasn’t possible to change her to a new class as they were all full and settled. Subconsciously, I must have been thinking about her as it came to next year’s class selection time. It could have been so easy to place her with another teacher. I needed to own this problem and she wasn’t the problem. I listened to my heart and said to the other teachers that I wanted her in my class. Insistence worked. Most of all she needed acceptance, a sense of belonging and to know that she was safe.

The following year this student fitted in a whole lot better than previous years. As the years have gone by, I do wonder what has happened to her as our world can be a cruel place to people who are different than others.

POINTS to PONDER

Do you know someone who is perhaps a little hard to like? Be inclusive and treat them as you would like to be treated. Accept them as they are.

It’s easy to love someone who is loveable. It’s harder to be a friend to someone who can be annoying and even off-putting. See beyond some aspects of their character and behaviour, to a person who is not perfect - just like you and me.