"I Open My Mouth, and My Mother Comes Out"

It's true. Sometimes I open my mouth, and my mother comes out. Not literally, of course, but more and more I hear myself saying things my mom used to say. Lately, it has been telling students "I'll let you..." followed by a task that either one of us could do, like sorting flashcards or writing the date on their page to remind them what they are supposed to practice that week.

I used to think the "I'll let you..." followed by a chore didn't make sense. I mean, it's not like it's a privilege to clean the bathroom. In my mind, if you let me do something, it should be something more exciting than that...like eating cookies for breakfast. But now, I see that in a way, it is a privilege to be given a task. It's saying "I trust you to do this" or "I want you to know how to do this so you're ready later on in life when you need it."

There are other ways that I hear my mom when I say things. Normally, it's some corny way to remember something or noticing that the notes in a song spell a word...or almost a word. Those times, the student normally laughs, and tends to remember more when it's not just a few notes on the page, it's where it says "age" or it's BFG the Big Friendly Giant chord. So far, it's been good to have my mom's words come out of my mouth.