“When I became a Mommy, I also became a better teacher because I began looking at my students through a different lens.  Don’t get me wrong, I was always a proactive, concerned and communicative teacher, but I kicked it all up a notch.   Now that my own munchkins started preschool I had a similar revelation and growth as a teacher. When Miss D had to peel my daughter off of me crying at arrival on the first day, I left a sad piece of me behind in that office.  My husband and I stood in the parking lot flustered for a minute, as this was the first time they would ever be completely apart from us.  It was *just* 3 hours, but my goodness, the clock ticked by so slowly and I had a nervous pit in my stomach all morning, wondering if they were behaving at circle time, how they were socializing, if they were being good listeners, if he remembered to use the potty before it was too late, if they liked their snack, if they were too hot or too cold, if they had fallen down, if she cried again, or if they chose to sit next to each other or on opposite sides of the room.  I wondered all of these thoughts while doing my own job and silently counting down the minutes until they were picked up.  I wondered if Miss R would recognize his potty dance or notice the inflection in her voice when she’s being tricky.  I logically knew all of the reasons why they were safe and secure and fine, but the billion random things I worried about made it a very stressful time. When I finally got the message that they were home, it was like the weight of the world was lifted off of my shoulders.  Then reality sat in as I got the report:  Little Man cried (a LOT) for a big part of the morning.  Miss R took him for a special walk outside to calm him down and he sat on her lap during story time because he was sad.  I learned that he really liked Miss R and was excited to go back to school again! I learned that someone else was in charge of my babies’ feelings and comfort for three hours and it TERRIFIED me. So, when I got to work on the 2nd day of school and saw a Kindergartener sobbing in the hallway, I imagined it was my Little Man and pictured his Mommy somewhere with a billion worries racing through her head. Teacher Mommy kicked in & I did for him what I trust is being done for my babies.  I held his hand as we walked to Kindergarten together, distracting him every step of the way and hoping that when he gets home later, he reassures his Mommy that he was OK because a Teacher Mommy helped calm him down when he was sad.” – Jennifer