# 1 - Parents & Educators: Let's begin with a preamble!

Hi all!

Welcome to the first edition of The First School! I’m humbled to have you on-board. I’m excited not only to share my thoughts on meaningful family engagement in education but also to connect and to learn from the wide network of parents and educators, who I’m fortunate to have as recipients of this newsletter. (We crossed 150 subscribers yesterday! Yay!)

When I shared the news about launching this newsletter, I received a warm congratulatory message from my good friend and mentor. She also shared with me a very inspiring poem named “Children Learn What They Live”. I decided it would be fitting to commence this newsletter series with this very important poem, which I believe can be treated by us adults as a preamble to approaching meaningful family engagement!

I’m so inspired by this poem that I would strongly encourage you to print it out as a poster! 

The message of the poem is simple and clear: “Children are the result of all the experiences given to them”. As parents and educators, the acknowledgement of this fact is vital. But, do we stop with this acknowledgement?

We, as parents and educators, should probe further and ask ourselves:  “Do we know what experiences we are subjecting our children to?” 

Because it’s not just how we speak to them, but how we conduct ourselves in their vicinity. 

Children pay attention to subtle cues from those around them and the environment at all points in their day. As a result, every moment is a learning moment for the child. 

I will leave you here hoping that you will reflect on this poem further! Do feel free to share your thoughts on this post so that we can leverage all of your experience and expertise!

See you next Friday! (Meanwhile, I would be delighted if you could do spread the word around)