Two-Minute Memoir: Total Recall

All parents try to understand what's going on in their kids' minds, but no matter how hard an adult tries, a child lives in a world that adults left behind long ago. My memory has made me acutely conscious of that disconnect. In a wonderful irony, after having hated school myself, I am now the administrator of a school with kids from kindergarten through seventh grade.

This past fall, one of the younger girls came into my office. I could see that though she was trying to hide it, she was very upset. She told me that her mother had not arrived yet to pick her up. When her mom appeared at the door a little bit later, she ran to her and blurted out, "I thought you were dead!" I knew all too well the terror she was feeling, because I remember that time of life so well. I try every day to bring that awareness into my work.