The Teacher (or Mother, Father, Parent)

I saw this on a bulletin board at the school where I work and thought it very profound. Just insert the word "Mother / Father / Parent" in place of "teacher" and "home" in place of "classroom".

"I've come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my personal approach that creates the climate. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized." ~~ Hiam Ginott