Relationships and partnerships are important to me because without them I am nothing. I have a relationship and partnership with God, my husband of 32 years, my daughters, and grandchildren, and many friends and coworker’s. The relationship I have with God is never ending and prayer is constant in my. Without having a relationship with God, I would not have positive relationships or partnerships with the people who are significant in my life.
In additions, I have a partnership with the parents of my Head Start student, parents are required to sign a partnership agreement stating that they agree to participate and volunteer in their child’s preschool educational experience. Therefore, I am able to form relationships and partnerships with the “whole child”.
The relationship that I have with my husband of 32 years is a partnership of love and respect, commitment, and support plus loyalty. Our relationship was very challenging at the beginning; we were both young (21), head strong, and wanted to be right about everything, which created many of fights. We had to teach, learn, and show one another how we needed to be treated. Moreover, we learned these lessons in the end by sharing our feeling and growing up together. We still have our fights but we fight as partners.
The relationship and partnerships with my daughters and grandchildren are forever changing for the better, with my oldest daughter I had to learn to not voice my opinion all the time and let her parent her children in her own way, even if I disagreed with her methods I must show her respect and support. I had to learn to listen and not judge. My youngest daughter, who is 29 years old has a cognitive disability she can and is learning but at a very slow pace, but that does not take away from whom she is; she is funny, silly, happy, and stubbornly sassy. She is dating for the first time, so our partnership is a work in progress.
I have many friends and coworkers who I have been friends with for over 40 years. When I form friendships, we become friends for life because I value friendships and commitment and all that relationships and partnerships entails. By having vast experiences with relationships and partnerships pertaining my family and friends, which includes my ability to be an active reflective contributor; has affected my ability to form effective partnerships in my role as a early childhood educator.
I can appreciated your beginning challenges with your husband. I too was married at a young age, both of us head strong, and many challenges were presented daily. We learned from each other how to love and be patient. A partnership was formed through our ups and downs. We now have been married for 13 years and will be blessed with many more together.
ReplyDeleteSandra,
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a very good idea to have the parents sign a partnership agreement at the beginning of the year, just in case. Unfortunately no matter how hard we try sometimes some parents completely refuse to cooperate and engage in their children's education. If there's a legal binding, they will feel obliged to participate and hopefully will see how beneficial it is for them and their children when they get engaged in their child's school activities and education. I will surely suggest it to our head of school. thanks for your post!
Maryam
I admire how you and your husband worked through the hard times to maintain a relationship with each other and build on it to make a better even if the both of you disagree about an issue. It is a lot of work to building a strong and lasting relationship with a person. We just have to want to put the effort in it to make it work.
ReplyDeleteSandra,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your post and sharing all of your wisdom with us. I am a young mother and it is nice to hear about mothers who have positive relationships with their adult children. I couldn't agree with you more that without God we would not have any of the relationships that we have. Thanks also for sharing about your partnerships with parents. This sounds like a very good way to get parents involved. I also appreciate what you said about you and your husband. It sounds as if you have a very strong relationship and if I had to guess I would say that God is at the center of that one as well! We are so blessed for the people He sends into our lives and it sounds as if you are being a blessing to many others as well!
Sandra
ReplyDeleteThe value of friendships and commitment shows in the relationships that we have shared. Relationships require a lot of hard work because people have different values but you have managed through experiences to allow people to display differences. I have been with my husband since high school and every day I learn something new about him and the bond we share. It feels good to see growth and unity.