MrE’s class earned a bulldog party and they choose a PJs and Movie day. Everyone was supposed to bring a snack. So I grabbed his Halloween candy ziplock. I started to ask him to choose a couple of pieces, but then told him to take the whole bag. Please share with the kids whose parents forgot. As a dad who forgets, I wanted to help others!

Of course Meg knows I forget and sent a text reminder. “Don’t worry, I am sending him with his Halloween candy!” I was proud — I am a dad who remembers! But, I am not a dad who reads emails. “Sean, it is supposed to be a healthy snack!” Why? It is pjs and a movie. The movie theater sells candy, not celery sticks! “Sean, they are teaching the kids to be healthy.”

Someday adult E’s “when I was kid – uphill both ways” story will be “my dad gave me candy, then replaced it with celery sticks!” Needless to say, E was not happy with me. And I was not happy with Megan, “Why do teachers have to teach about health food?!”

We ask a lot of teachers today. Between math facts and reading, they become counselors and nutritionists. They bear the weight of standardized test scores and must explain the need for active shooter drills (as they pray!). I know teachers who organize meals for needy families and slip stocking caps into the bags of kids who need one. Basically we ask our teachers to LOVE.

But teachers are often not loved in return. Underpaid. Evaluated not by heart, but state tests. And forced to deal with parents… who only complain.

This video from the NYTimes discusses the massive number of teachers leaving the profession. It brought me to tears for the way teachers are treated. While I have never been awful, I am most often passive. Not actively encouraging. So the video challenged me to LOVE each of our teachers!

Of course, if I am going to love them, they are getting candy, not celery sticks!