A Parent's Perspective (02-19-07)

This week, I should temporarily rename my column. Instead of the “Principal’s Perspective,” this one should be called, “A Parent’s Perspective.”

On Tuesday, February 13th, 2007, at 10:38 pm, my wife and I welcomed Natalie Renee Goodwin into the world. She cried for a few seconds, and then decided to have a look around. She was perfect, she was beautiful, she was ours.

As I held our little girl in my arms, everything became clear. All the why’s and the how’s and the what-for’s, all were answered in the blink and the squint of two amazing blue eyes.

The answer is one that only a parent knows. Only someone who has watched for nine months as another human being, formed in their image, grew from a single fertilized egg. Only someone who watched for hours as that life, formed in their image, struggled to be born. And only someone who had held that life, formed in their image, and fell instantly and totally, perfectly and completely, head-over-heals in love.

That is the closest I can come to explaining why parents are the way they are: from the moment we first see our children, we fall so hard and so fast that most everything else becomes inconsequential. Our hopes and dreams, our worries and doubts, the problems of our youth and the mortality of our future, all lose a little of their edge. What really matters in life suddenly comes into crystal focus.

Holding our daughter, I empathized with parents everywhere. As an educator, and especially as a principal, I have experienced the best and the worst a parent can be. I have seen parents cry, listened as they yelled, and watched as they worried. I have seen pride and anger and punishment and forgiveness. And while I don’t always agree with every decision a parent might make, as a parent I understand. I understand how the love we have for our children is the answer to almost everything.

While there are many reasons people become teachers, most stay teachers, most chose to make a permanent career in education, for the same reason that most people decide to remain parents: out of love for our children.

A teacher’s love and a principal’s love is a different kind of love than that of a parent. However, teachers, administrators and parents share the goal of wanting to see our kids grow, develop, and mature into all we know they can be. Both educators and parents know the joy and the heartbreak a child can cause, and we both lose a lot of sleep over these precious gifts.

Of course, as a father I will worry more and sleep less. As a husband, I will share with my wife an incredible bond which began nine months ago and which became flesh and blood at 10:38, Tuesday evening.

This week, my wife and I have been through so many different emotions: fear, frustration, joy, and relief. But now, from my perspective as a father, one emotion rises above the rest: pure, true, and unconditional love.

Welcome to the world, little Natalie. Mom and dad are so happy to finally have you home.