Voice

By Brittany Daniels

We were running late that morning, as usual. Fortunately Rhyan woke up on her own after a good night’s sleep, so it wasn’t a fight to get her dressed. Nevertheless, she kept dancing around everywhere. I blurted commands: “Take that off.” “Come back and put this on.” “Be still and find your other sock.” In my haste to get out the door, I could feel my frustration building.

Smiling, Rhyan skipped down the hall holding a toy. “Mommy,” she shouted excitedly, “can I— ?”

Knowing exactly what she was about to ask, I interrupted her. “No, you can’t. Now sit down so I can finish your hair.”

Rhyan immediately stopped, frowned, folded her arms, and said matter-of-factly, “You didn’t hear my voice. I want to say my voice!”

Immediately I realized what I had done. I tell Rhyan all the time how impolite it is to interrupt, but that’s exactly what I had done to her. And I had done more than just stop my six-year-old daughter from sharing “her voice.” I had also indirectly communicated to Rhyan that what she had to say was not important, we didn’t have time for her to speak, and her wishes did not matter.

Sadly, the teacher in me realizes that we do this to kids daily. Every time we rob them of choice, we steal their voices. When we pull them from their favorite subjects, activities, or texts so that we can layer on another scripted program, we refuse to let them “say their voice.” They are stripped of their voices when we tell them they have to read books on their levels.

We all know that there are endless demands in the classroom: time constraints, testing, grades, accountability, and so on. But let’s always remember that each of our kids has a voice, and those voices deserve to be heard. Listen to their voices.

Brittany Daniels currently works as a literacy coach in South Carolina.