Beyond the shadow of doubt, we care about our students. Many valuable hours are invested in coordinating, scheduling, structuring family life to nurture and educate our children. This is a huge project.

However, it is not okay to indulge in hand-wringing and fretting about the students in the presence of the students. Frettng aloud models personal anxiety, and can cause students to worry about things over which they have no control.

An example of fretting: to worry aloud to a student that he or she is falling behind on math lessons and may have to repeat the same work next year.

Fretting neither improves a student's math skills, nor encourages a student's motivation. If an educator is to help a student learn, the obstacles to learning must be identified and overcome.

Rather than expressing personal frustration through fretting aloud, an educator might reassess and identify which specific math skills the student is struggling with. Then review and practice those math skills with the student until the student demonstrates competence with the skillset.

We owe it to ourselves as educators to maintain a network of adult friends as a personal professional resource. These friends are trustworthy peers with whom to converse about concerns.

Friends provide appropriate encouragement. Friends who are educators may share some valuable educational tips that have worked for them.

Don't worry, be happy