One of my students had a bit of a rough week and so when walking down the hallways one day, that same student mentioned something about "needing to work harder today." I turned around to face that student and said, "You don't need to work harder! You work hard every day. What happened yesterday had nothing to do with not working hard..it was just a mistake. And we make mistakes as humans. We wish we wouldn't make mistakes, but we do. This is what makes life interesting. Sometimes annoying. Sometimes heartbreaking. But ultimately, full of life."

I also added: "What happened yesterday is in the past and today is a clean slate. I'm not at all worried about what happened yesterday and you shouldn't be either."

This student nodded their head and said to me, "You know Mrs. Amoscato I'm just practicing being a person to make progress. We practice to make progress and sometimes we make mistakes when we are practicing.Thanks for forgiving me."

I have always heard "practicing insert activity" but never have I heard a child phrase it quite this way. "Practice being a person every day. A good person." I hope this year, you have practiced being a "person." Because practice is progress even if progress may seem to be moving in a backward direction. We could all practice being a good person a little bit more. Perhaps if we look at it this way, the act of creating kindnes and love wouldn't seem like such a burden but more a natural progression of life. The wisdom of an eight-year-old....truly and always such an amazing thing.