Teacher Shares Sweet Messages A Student's Mom Wrote On His Pencils

This pencil idea is the sweetest gesture and every mom will want to copy it immediately

One teacher’s viral post shows there’s no limit to the ways we can encourage our kids — and you’ll want to steal this creative, heartwarming pencil idea for your own kids.

Amanda Cox, an elementary teacher in Texas, says she was running low on pencils in her classroom recently. She asked all of her students to pull out any pencils they had in their desks to share, and one student offered to share a few of the pencils his mom had given him for class.

“When I was sharpening them, I noticed writing on a few of them,” Cox writes. “I then realized that my student’s mother took the time to write on his pencils. I asked him if he would mind showing me the rest of them. What I read melted my heart.”

The boy’s mom had written heartwarming messages of love and encouragement on each pencil in permanent marker, so he could see and read them every day. Each pencil had its own special message:

– You are so talented.

– This will be a great year. – You are creative. – You are phenomenal. – Never give up. – You can do this. – You are knowledgeable. – You are a math whiz. – You are intelligent. – Proud of you every day. – I love you. – You have a brilliant mind. – You are wonderful. – You are a problem solver. – Follow your dreams. – You are perfect. – I am proud of you. – You will change the world. – You are amazing. – You are the best. – You are important.

Cox says she was incredibly moved by the loving gesture. “This probably took his mom a few minutes to do yet it lit up his whole day at school,” she says. “He wasn’t embarrassed that his mom wrote on his pencils. Thanks to his mom, he was reminded of his self-worth and wanted to share the same feeling with his classmates.”

I don’t know about you, but it’s getting dusty in here. Whew. Maybe it’s the thought of all of those pencil shavings, but it’s raining on my face a little bit. It’s so important to always remind young, impressionable kids of their value. I want to steal this idea immediately — it’s such a subtle yet impactful thing to do. When you can’t be with your kids at school, and you can’t control what unfolds while they’re there, you can still let them know just how terrific you think they are. Whether it’s writing on their pencils or tossing little notes in their lunch box, there’s a variety of ways we can tell them how highly we think of them every day.

“Even if you think it is cheesy or you don’t have enough time or that you will have little impact, remember that you may be the only one telling and reminding them these things and EVERY kid needs to know their value,” Cox concludes. “This is why I teach.”