Cheryl M Charles

Cheryl is a retired teacher from Waterloo, Ontario. Most of her career was spent as an English teacher in the primary French Immersion Program. Becoming a teacher was life-changing! Cheryl was the teacher but her students also taught her many invaluable lessons. Like her own children, Cheryl observed the students developing friendships. Babies aren't born with judgment or hate. These negative and divisive qualities are taught or modeled by those around them and are learned as children grow and develop. Friendships shouldn't be defined by race, religion, gender, or personality traits. Cheryl observed that kids were naturally sociable and for the most part, they had open hearts and could make friends without biases if they had the proper role models. It didn’t mean that their friendships always ran smoothly without bumps along the way, but for the most part, her students didn’t use their differences as a reason not to get to know each other and form bonds. Cheryl marveled at these admirable qualities that adults should recognize, praise, and embrace as they cherish the friends that they have and at the same time, reach out to form new friendships.