Mothers

Today at work, two mothers spilled their stories to us.

The first was complaining about how her daughter had been placed in all honors classes except for English (her favorite and best subject) and about how she has never been recommended by teachers to participate in any special activities/programs. It smacked of racism to me, but we also only got one side of the story…

Another mother came in to register her son for our program, but we couldn’t take him because we were already full with a waiting list. That set her off on a tearful story about her bad day and her horrible week and her difficult life: there just isn’t enough support at Ethel Lawrence or in Mount Laurel for people like her – no affordable day care, no all-day kindergarten, and not much compassion from the administration. I was sad to hear it. They pull people out of their support networks and then expect them to make it on their own? In a place with completely different cultural and economic expectations and services? Something is wrong with this picture.