A Teacher's Love Letter

To My Future Preschoolers,

First, I want to welcome you to our program at PS Society. I am so excited that you will be joining me in the red room. We are going to have a lot of fun and learn a lot from one another during our time together. I think we are both going to learn a lot from each other.

So for our first lesson, I want to talk to you about a teacher’s love for her students. Although it sounds a bit bizarre and unconventional, all the best teachers love and cherish their students. Whether we want to admit it or not.

I know we are known for being strict, pushing you to the point of near breaking. Or reciting the same thing repeatedly because we love the sound of our own voices, which is partially true. But what you don’t realize is that deep down, under our many cups of coffee, messy buns and general bossiness, we love you.

Now, speaking from experience, I do my best to not get too attached because you aren’t mine to love. Not in the way one might expect, anyways. You are mine to teach and impart knowledge within.

I do my best to keep my distance and not love you like I would my own children because I have a job to do. And loving you would simply make that job too hard.

Especially when the time comes that you will be required to leave my classroom to take on the next phase of your very young lives. Where I will have to hope that I gave you enough skills and practice for the lessons they will teach you in kindergarten. Because from that point on, your journey will no longer be in my hands and I will only be able to watch from the sidelines as you grow and mature.

So I will say my farewells and watch you as the years go on. Excited about all the wonderful things you will discover and create in your lifetime, with a joyful tear in my eye.

But that is also why I, as a teacher, I am determined to make your time with me the most fun it can be. Yes, there will be hard days where neither of us has had enough sleep the night before and we’re cranky. But I can also promise there will be wonderful days with costume dance parties and glow sticks because those also bring me joy. There will also be chances to explore the world around us on walks to the park where we can collect things like pinecone, sticks and dandelions. And so much much more.

I’ll teach you how to regulate your emotions and advocate for yourself, request help when needed and accept it when you’ve forgotten to ask. Because my job is to help build you a foundation upon which you will continue to build for the rest of your life.

It could be argued that my job is more about teaching you how to hold a pencil or crayon and colour inside the lines. But I dare say I will also happily teach you how to colour outside of the lines. Because I believe there’s more to life than just following the rules and making the “right” choices. I believe in loving you through the tricky bits where we practice making mistakes and recognizing that it’s okay. Everyone makes mistakes, and it’s how you handle them afterwards that defines you.

Or maybe I should teach you how to talk in proper sentences and answer questions because that builds conversation skills. But instead I will teach you that your voice has power and that NO can be a complete sentence. I will teach you that self-advocacy is a beautiful thing and even more beautiful when others honour it.

So, although my love for you is unexpected and unconventional, I am prepared to be who you need me to be so that you can be who you want to be. Which can be kind of tricky when there are 20 of you and each of you needs me to be a different person for you that day. But that is not for you to worry about, because all I need is for you to know how loved you are.

No matter what happens within the four walls of my classroom, whether we fight or are the best of friends. Know that I will always love you, even after our time is done and you have moved on.

So if nothing else, when you leave my room I want the one lesson that sticks with you to be that You Are Loved.

Forever your very proud Preschool Teacher,

Mrs. Knibb - Brekke