My Cause - Defective Girls

Since graduating in July I've spent the last three and a half months trying to play catch up, recover from being over committed in responsibilities and  focusing on being the best Mom that I can be. One of the hardest things about making the sacrifice to pursue my graduate degree as a Mom of two super young kids was accepting that I had to do less with them during that 19 month period. This was hard - yes a tradeoff (ha!) but something that I knew they would yield returns from in the end. 

Now that the "too busy" fog has cleared and I've re-engaged in "life", I've been drawn to a cause that is personal - and I'm learning - very real for many others also. This cause involves helping to advocate for the special needs of boys in our educational system.  My journey in advocating for my son began when he was a preschooler. He is now a first grader and in retrospect I am realizing that this journey has really just begun. One of the most profound statements I've come across recently sums it up best - "Sometimes we may look at boys as defective girls" (Education Week article - 2012). This statement, to me, is where the issue begins. Growing up I never really gained an appreciation for the unique differences and needs of boys(and men).  That makes this particularly interesting to me. As I look for ways to feed my son's insatiable appetite for knowledge - within a system designed to manufacture common knowledge learners - I realize that there are greater challenges for boys in the larger equation. That realism sparked my "middle child, big sister" fire (watch out!) and my journey began. Fortunately, there are tons of people who had this revelation before my journey began and I'm so grateful for their knowledge and the resources that I'm uncovering. Not sure where this journey will lead but it's fueled a passion greater than anything I've felt before in life.