Believe it or not, kids, I don't know it all.

I got a reminder today that as the mom they think I know everything.  I'm supposed to know everything, right?  I mean, if I don't know it, then who does?  Sometimes students think their teachers know everything, too.  I remember my first year of teaching and one of my kids asked me what a.m. and p.m. stood for.  I had no idea and said so.  He said to me, "What do you mean that you don't know?"  That always has stayed with  me because no one had ever before thought I knew it all.  What a powerful position it is we hold with kids.

Obviously, it's ok that we don't always have the answers and it's important that they know that we, too, have to seek out information to answer things sometimes.  We never stop learning or wanting to learn.

My knowledge of science-based things is almost equal to William's knowledge and that's no joke.  We drove by a solar panel on a rooftop this morning and he asked me what it was.  I said it was a solar panel.  He asked how it worked.  Ummmm.  I said, "It soaks up the sun's rays and turns it into energy."  He said, "I don't understand."  I said, "Neither do I.  We'll ask daddy."  I hate that.  I should know something like that, shouldn't I?

I can change a diaper in the complete dark.  I can do the hokey-pokey with a toddler while breastfeeding an infant.  I can recite verbatim chapters 11-17 of the 5th grade Social Studies book. I can sing all 50 states and capitals in alphabetic order in under 30 seconds.  And I can rock a grilled cheese sandwich with multi-grain bread and pull it off as being just wheat bread.  But please children.  Don't ask me about solar panels because I have no freaking clue and it's a little embarrassing.