Student to teacher: ” Miss, I decided to stay away from crisps and sweets! I lost 9 kg! Tell me I’m COOL miss, haha!”. Wow, how good to inspire, while being inspired!

photo (6)As a secondry school teacher, I try to influence my teen-pupils. I teach Art, so one of my main tasks is to give them another view of the world we live in, and how others (artists) reflect their views, etc.

Teachers generally try to teach more then their own subject though. We try to get them to talk ‘normally’, teach them about respect, taking responsibilities, reflect on actions, etc. But it goes both ways: they ‘teach’ us about the latest fashion, ‘cool’ music (riiight) and.. well, without knowing it they teach us how to stay young at heart and laugh about silly things!!!!

Sometimes your influence goes beyond expectation.. I always hope I can be an example, munching on fruit and vegetables all day (yes, even in the classroom –‘bad teach’). Making a * YUCK!* face whenever I see them eat crips and drink redbull.. if I see it’s ‘breakfast’ I’ll even tell them off about it.

As a student coach/mentor I tell them about the  benefits of exercise, how important it is to find a sport you really like to do (have fun), be healthy (look good) and how it helps you concentrate on schoolwork (higher grades!!).

I also warn them that the weight you put on in your teen-years, will be the hardest to lose when getting older. Cause they too, will get older.

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But you really don’t expect them to listen to that kind of boring stuff. So how happy I am to see more of my students eating fruit this year. How cool that some students run up to tell me they joined a sports club. And today, a student (17 yrs, overweight) told me she lost 9 kg since the summer-holiday! “Miss, I decided to stay away from crisps and sweets, I train at the gym 4x a week, and lost 9! And I don’t want to see it as a diet you know.. I really feel this is my new lifestyle! I’M SO HAPPY AND PROUD! Tell me I’m COOL miss, haha!”

She decided to bring fruit with her as a treat, for her birthday next week. Cause I did too, back in june. She said she hopes to inspire her classmates… and thanked me.

She’s going to start smoking tomorrow..

(joke)

Wow, I’m perplexed. And happy!