Dear Teacher,
Thank you so much for being a teacher! I consider it a great ministry to take Kindergartners under your wing and shower them with rules, order, learning, fun, and love. I know that in the next 11 years of my boys education they will consider you their hero. What you do is a calling and it is very difficult work. So first, I just wanted to say thank you for all that you have done in your career, what you are doing now, and your continued future as a teacher.
As you welcome Brody and Dylan into your classroom I must say that there is some anxiety in my heart. They are such great boys and very kind, compassionate, and innocent. I know that as they grow and are surrounded by a diverse student body that they will learn new things, different cultures, and their eyes will be opened. Some of the things they learn will be just what I was hoping they would learn. I hope they learn that not everyone in our world has white skin, lives in a nice home, and has two or more cars. I hope they learn that not everyone attends a church, knows about Jesus, or holds compassion as one of their highest values. I hope they learn to read, write, and listen to their teacher. Of course there are things I wish they wouldn’t learn. I know that I cannot control these things and that its just part of life. I hope they don’t learn that people should be judged by the color of their skin, wealth, or social status. I hope they won’t learn that others will make you feel bad about yourself so that they can feel good about who they are. I hope they don’t learn foul language, that fighting is acceptable, or that this world is a cruel place sometimes. However, with you as their teacher and us as their parents I know that we can work together to shape the good and bad of what they learn to be a healthy, maturing process.
I’m sure that in your almost 23 years of teaching that you have seen many sets of twins. I’m also pretty sure that our twins are unique in some ways, but not in all ways. I thought I would share a little about them to help you understand each boy and maybe give a little insight into how we treat and parent them. I’m not expecting you to do what we do, I just thought this could help with some insight into who we are as a family.
Ever since we learned that we were going to have twins, we have really tried to enjoy the uniqueness that this brings to our family. We dress them the same. I apologize if this makes things difficult, but it makes it easier on us and we like living the twin thing up. When the day comes that they communicate to us their desire to not dress the same, we will honor that request. We try hard not to refer to them as “the twins.” They are twins and they know it, but we also want them to know that they each have their own personality, character, and life. They love spending time with each other because they are best friends. While we want them to find others as friends too, we still want them to be close. In fact, we push for them to get to know other children and make friends outside of themselves.
Dylan is a great kid who loves to be independent and a leader. He was born first (by 1 minute) and remarkably acts just like you would think a first born would act. He likes to learn, to talk, and to show you what he knows. He seems to be a carbon copy of me which gives me great honor and drives me crazy too. He loves to be noticed and affirmation. However, he is confident even without those things. He loves to laugh and enjoys Legos, GI Joe, and Star Wars. He also loves to be outside and do sports.
Brody is also a great kid (I’m their dad of course I think they are great). Brody loves to be around other people, even though he may be shy at first. Brody is really good at making other people happy and laugh. However, unlike Dylan he doesn’t really like to be noticed. He loves to love and be loved. He is extremely creative and can build the most amazing things out of Legos. He is great at art as well. He loves to do those things along with GI Joe and Star Wars. Once Brody learns something, he no longer feels the need to prove it again or seek the attention of the crowd for it. He loves to be outside and uses that time to create through his imagination and coming up with exciting games.
Dylan and Brody love their baby sister. They take turns babysitting her (with our supervision of course) and making her laugh. They give her hugs, kisses, and my favorite is when they talk “baby-talk” to her. We couldn’t ask for better big brothers for our daughter than these boys.
Our family has a deep-rooted faith in Jesus Christ. For several generations both sides of our families have been people who attended church regularly, planted churches, preached, and were elders for different congregations. We take our faith seriously. We believe that God has given us many gifts and it is our responsibility to use them for His glory. We aren’t the kind of people who force our faith and religion on other people, but we won’t hide our light either. I say that for two reasons. First, we hope that our boys’ ultimate hero is Jesus Christ. Secondly, we cannot help but be in constant prayer for them and those that are with them on a regular basis. We have been praying for you for years and we will be praying each day for you as their teacher and their entire kindergarten experience. You are the blessing that we have been praying for since they were born.
So, again, thank you for your kindness, love, experience, sense of justice, and time. We know how important this first year of school is for our boys and how important every year is for you as a kindergarten teacher. We are grateful for you! God will lead us all in this journey. Have fun with Dylan and Brody and their entire class this year!
Sincerely,
Michael Mercer
Thank you so much for being a teacher! I consider it a great ministry to take Kindergartners under your wing and shower them with rules, order, learning, fun, and love. I know that in the next 11 years of my boys education they will consider you their hero. What you do is a calling and it is very difficult work. So first, I just wanted to say thank you for all that you have done in your career, what you are doing now, and your continued future as a teacher.
As you welcome Brody and Dylan into your classroom I must say that there is some anxiety in my heart. They are such great boys and very kind, compassionate, and innocent. I know that as they grow and are surrounded by a diverse student body that they will learn new things, different cultures, and their eyes will be opened. Some of the things they learn will be just what I was hoping they would learn. I hope they learn that not everyone in our world has white skin, lives in a nice home, and has two or more cars. I hope they learn that not everyone attends a church, knows about Jesus, or holds compassion as one of their highest values. I hope they learn to read, write, and listen to their teacher. Of course there are things I wish they wouldn’t learn. I know that I cannot control these things and that its just part of life. I hope they don’t learn that people should be judged by the color of their skin, wealth, or social status. I hope they won’t learn that others will make you feel bad about yourself so that they can feel good about who they are. I hope they don’t learn foul language, that fighting is acceptable, or that this world is a cruel place sometimes. However, with you as their teacher and us as their parents I know that we can work together to shape the good and bad of what they learn to be a healthy, maturing process.
I’m sure that in your almost 23 years of teaching that you have seen many sets of twins. I’m also pretty sure that our twins are unique in some ways, but not in all ways. I thought I would share a little about them to help you understand each boy and maybe give a little insight into how we treat and parent them. I’m not expecting you to do what we do, I just thought this could help with some insight into who we are as a family.
Ever since we learned that we were going to have twins, we have really tried to enjoy the uniqueness that this brings to our family. We dress them the same. I apologize if this makes things difficult, but it makes it easier on us and we like living the twin thing up. When the day comes that they communicate to us their desire to not dress the same, we will honor that request. We try hard not to refer to them as “the twins.” They are twins and they know it, but we also want them to know that they each have their own personality, character, and life. They love spending time with each other because they are best friends. While we want them to find others as friends too, we still want them to be close. In fact, we push for them to get to know other children and make friends outside of themselves.
Dylan is a great kid who loves to be independent and a leader. He was born first (by 1 minute) and remarkably acts just like you would think a first born would act. He likes to learn, to talk, and to show you what he knows. He seems to be a carbon copy of me which gives me great honor and drives me crazy too. He loves to be noticed and affirmation. However, he is confident even without those things. He loves to laugh and enjoys Legos, GI Joe, and Star Wars. He also loves to be outside and do sports.
Brody is also a great kid (I’m their dad of course I think they are great). Brody loves to be around other people, even though he may be shy at first. Brody is really good at making other people happy and laugh. However, unlike Dylan he doesn’t really like to be noticed. He loves to love and be loved. He is extremely creative and can build the most amazing things out of Legos. He is great at art as well. He loves to do those things along with GI Joe and Star Wars. Once Brody learns something, he no longer feels the need to prove it again or seek the attention of the crowd for it. He loves to be outside and uses that time to create through his imagination and coming up with exciting games.
Dylan and Brody love their baby sister. They take turns babysitting her (with our supervision of course) and making her laugh. They give her hugs, kisses, and my favorite is when they talk “baby-talk” to her. We couldn’t ask for better big brothers for our daughter than these boys.
Our family has a deep-rooted faith in Jesus Christ. For several generations both sides of our families have been people who attended church regularly, planted churches, preached, and were elders for different congregations. We take our faith seriously. We believe that God has given us many gifts and it is our responsibility to use them for His glory. We aren’t the kind of people who force our faith and religion on other people, but we won’t hide our light either. I say that for two reasons. First, we hope that our boys’ ultimate hero is Jesus Christ. Secondly, we cannot help but be in constant prayer for them and those that are with them on a regular basis. We have been praying for you for years and we will be praying each day for you as their teacher and their entire kindergarten experience. You are the blessing that we have been praying for since they were born.
So, again, thank you for your kindness, love, experience, sense of justice, and time. We know how important this first year of school is for our boys and how important every year is for you as a kindergarten teacher. We are grateful for you! God will lead us all in this journey. Have fun with Dylan and Brody and their entire class this year!
Sincerely,
Michael Mercer
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