Throughout my education, but especially as a young child, school was always extremely easy for me. I had to put forth very little effort to excel. My high school AP American History teacher pulled my aside in class one day and said, “Blaine, if you just applied yourself a little bit, you will go on to do wonderful things.” Of course, I scoffed because I was lazy and could get away with it.

As an adult, the tables have flipped for me with my daughter. She is slightly dysgraphic and not blessed with the same academic skill set I have. So, school is difficult for her. Parents of school-aged children know that homework time is difficult under even the best of circumstances. Single parents know this times eleventy-thousand million. Honestly, I don’t know what to do when my mind breaks down a math problem in a simple, logical progression which my daughter just can’t see. Or, when she can’t sit still or focus on the task at hand.

I’m taking this opportunity to cultivate patience and understanding. But, it is hard. Really hard. Like, eleventy-thousand million hard. I want to fill in the answers. I want to send the teacher a note and ask “are you teaching MLA or APA format, because the answer to this Daily Oral Language will be different depending on which rules you apply…” I want to say – “cursive went the way of the dodo bird, why is my child having to learn to write in script?” Mostly, though, I feel sad that I can’t do the heavy lifting for Claire. I have to let her walk her own path.

Claire is a wonderful, empathetic young girl. She just told me a story about how each student in her class was assigned a number 1-13. When the teacher asked the new kid his number, he said “which one, my mom’s or my dad’s.” The rest of the class laughed, but not Claire. She felt bad for him and thought to herself that he shouldn’t worry because she’s done way more embarrassing things. This, ladies and gentlemen, is my daughter’s gift. And, I simply have to realize her path is different than mine, which is a good lesson for all of us. We all walk different paths and have different obstacles, but we all struggle. So, lift up your brothers and sisters where you can.