For the last seven years I’ve been a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education teacher. I have my Masters in that, and I work with a lot of kids who are either immigrants or refugees into the United States.
At one particular school, I worked with kids who came from places all around the world; from Burma, from Somalia… kids that have lived in really, truly, extreme poverty… even civil war going on in their country.
For some of these kids, their villages had even been burned down.. and they saw it happen… They saw people killed right in front of them just because they didn’t conform to what the military in charge was trying to get them to do.
The military came in and stole things from them… and if they resisted… they would be killed.
Kids coming from places like that and coming here, to the United States, and understanding the opportunity available to them. Their parents understanding it … their mindset is just that,
“I am here to learn everything that I can and observe every possible opportunity that I can get while I’m here.”
And then, on the other hand, we have kids born in the United States, who come from poverty or anywhere, poverty or even from privilege. They might be kids that have experienced tough things in their short past already…
Parents leaving, going to jail… etc…,
Kids that I personally have worked with…
Their families may even find themselves homeless for whatever reason…
and these kids…
So many of them will take these kinds of things as an excuse for the terrible behavior they demonstrate,
The disrespect that they show to other adults in their life whether it’s their teachers or any other adult that might come in the room.
And they don’t take their learning seriously.
And maybe I’m generalizing big time here, I get that, but I see it time and time again.
You get these kids that come from immigrant families, that come from refugee families and have lived through extreme things on one hand…
And then you get the kids born in the states who come from poverty, [I’m sure you see it with privileged kids too].
And there’s just some kind of mindset difference where they think that the world owes them something.
And because they have a parent in jail or they’re homeless for a time or they have these other circumstances… and junk that happens to them in their past and…
Oh my gosh, I don’t wish that on anybody at all… and would love to help people get out of those kinds of situations,
But you can’t use that as an excuse…
You can’t teach your kids to use that as an excuse to be a jerk.
It’s just the bottom line.
You can’t use those circumstances in your life as an excuse to just be a jerk and decide you’re not going to do anything because you don’t feel like it.
So instead… think about the amazing blessings that you have in your life right now
Instead of thinking about the junk from the past and using all of that stuff as an excuse as to why you’re not where you want to be right now, or why you’re not doing the thing that you wanted to do,
And oh my gosh, never use your kids as an excuse for any of that.
Motherhood is not an excuse for not reaching your dreams.
It’s absolutely not.
So be aware of the blessings in your life.
Seriously take a look at the things in your life that you have to be grateful for and focus on those things.
Let those things expand in your life.
Be grateful for what you have and you will start to see things change for you.
I hope that this has inspired you to look at the things and the situations in your life and just know that none of that is an excuse as to why you’re not where you should be… or where you want to be… or where you said you were going to be.
Do it anyway, get it done, and make life happen for you.
Life doesn’t happen to you, you make life happen for you.
So be amazing, be blessed, and leave me a comment on this post to let me know how this resonates with you.
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