Perhaps you have heard of the idea of writing a note to put inside a child’s lunchbox. This is a pretty easy and sweet way for a parent to remind their children just how much they care while they are at school.
What if there were a way to write a note that a child could subtly see throughout the entire school day, not just at lunch? One mom came up with a very easy way to do this, and when her child’s teacher discovered what the mom did, she decided she needed to share the idea with the world.
Amanda Cox is a teacher, and she shared a story on Facebook about a day when she was running low on pencils. She explained, “Today I was running low on pencils so I asked all of my kids to pull out any of my pencils that they had in their desks.”
One of Cox’s students had pencils from his mom in his desk, and he asked his teacher if it was okay if he kept those. Cox wrote, “I had one student ask me if he could keep the pencils that his mom gave him for school. Of course, I said yes.”
Even though Cox said the student could keep the pencils his mom gave him, the student ended up deciding to share some of the pencils. Cox continued, “He then said, ‘well, I guess I’ll give you a few so my classmates can have them too.’ I thought nothing of it and took the pencils that he handed me.”
Later, when Cox was sharpening the pencils, she realized why the student originally wanted to hang on to them. She explained, “When I was sharpening them, I noticed writing on a few of them. I then realized that my student’s mother took the time to write on his pencils.”
She was so impressed with what she saw on the pencils that she wanted to see the other pencils the student’s mom had given him. She added, “I asked him if he would mind showing me the rest of them. What I read melted my heart.”
In the picture below, you can see the sweet messages this student’s mother wrote on his pencils.
In case you can’t read the mother’s writing, the messages are:
you are so talented
this will be a great year
you are creative
you are phenomenal
never give up
you can do this
you are very knowledgeable
you are a math whiz
you are intelligent
proud of you every day
I love you!
you have a brilliant mind
you are wonderful
you are a problem solver
follow your dreams
you are perfect
I love you!
I am proud of you
you will change the world
you are amazing
you are the best
you are important
The teacher was blown away by the mother’s idea to write affirmations on the pencils and by the student’s willingness to share the pencils with his fellow students so they could have a positive message on their pencils too. Cox wrote, “This probably took his mom a few minutes to do but lit up his whole day at school. He wasn’t embarrassed that his mom wrote on his pencils. Thanks to his mom, he was reminded of his self worth and wanted to share the same feeling with his classmates.”
Cox ended her post by emphasizing how important it is for parents and teachers to tell their kids “that they are important, talented, loved, knowledgeable, and so much more.” She added, “Remember that you may be the only one telling and reminding them these things and EVERY kid needs to know their value. This is why I teach.”
Many people commented on Cox’s post sharing how much they love this idea and that they plan to try this idea.
What do you think of the idea of writing affirmations on your child’s pencils? Are you going to try it?