Teaching Children to Not Sacrifice Who They Are
Impact Story
Teaching Children to Not Sacrifice Who They Are
“Henry can finally be himself, instead of spending all his energy conforming, and that has truly allowed him to blossom.”
— Stephen, parent of a student at The Epiphany School of Charlotte
My son is an aspiring herpetologist with a quirky sense of humor. He is a bit of an eccentric soul. There was simply no room for that in public school. Kids would follow him around the playground calling him names. I was regularly fielding calls that he was hiding out in the bathroom. His academic performance was abysmal despite his bright mind. Like most of us, he couldn’t function while he was so unhappy. We faced a daily battle to get him out the door, and it was heartbreaking to see his sullen face on the walk home. I knew something had to change and I set out to find a smaller school where he could be himself.
I was so fortunate to find The Epiphany School, as it has been exactly the safe haven that Henry needed. From day one, Henry has loved going to school in the morning and comes home every day full of entertaining stories about his friends and teachers. Early on, his babysitter commented that he had never seen Henry so happy, that he even had a big smile on his face when being picked up from carpool.
His Friends & Feelings class in particular has given him the skills and finesse to more comfortably engage in social settings. He even has a script prepared for the situations that trip him up, to help him manage better in that moment. His reactions are becoming more and more natural over time. The key to how well The Epiphany School works with the students is that they teach the children how to move through the world without sacrificing who they are. It’s a matter of long-term versus short term thinking. Our smart, beautiful, off-beat kids will be our inventors, our innovators, and our problem-solvers, but only if we create a safe space for them to grow.
