I originally wrote this thirteen years ago for AISH.com. As school has just started or is about to start, I am republishing this for all the parents struggling against a school administration that does not try to understand that each child is unique and has a unique way of learning.
I knew there was something bothering her. My daughter is usually a happy 12-year-old but as she approached my car she had a look on her face that was more serious than I had ever seen.
“Daddy, I think there’s something wrong with me.”
I said what any good father would say: “Honey, are you sure this isn’t something that you should be discussing with Mom?”
“No, Dad,” she said with that frustrated teenaged girl tone that she had developed over the last few months “It’s not a girl thing. It’s about my Bat Mitzvah! I am weird —
