Our unsung heroes – amazing parents!

This week our amazing Sunshine Coast teacher, Amanda Marshall, posted about the unsung heroes that we interact with every day at Chess Mates.

“Shout out to all the parents who struggled to get up this morning, but did it anyway, whether to keep your family safe, or to put a roof over your head and food in your bellies. Whether to get your kids to school, or make sure they feel loved and nurtured at home. You’re legends……. keep on keeping on! You’re awesome and heroes here at Chess Mates. And it is because of you we can teach your children other important life skills. Stay awesome, unsung heroes!🏆😊”

We wanted to expand on this thought within this blog post so that all parents and guardians know just how deeply we appreciate them.

It is amazing that as a manager at Chess Mates, I am able to encourage, inspire, and listen to students of all ages whether that be 6 or 60, but it is the parents and guardians that these children go home or went home to, that are the real encouragers, inspirations and listeners.

Without our parents and guardians putting a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, and love in our hearts as children we could not achieve that which we want. All parents and guardians say ‘you can be whoever you want to be’ to children because you truly believe in the power they have, but it is your love that gives them the inspiration to be who they are. Even though sometimes life can be difficult and exhausting, remember — your child is able to do what they do because of you. 

The main goal of Chess Mates is to create an engaging space for children that want to play chess and improve their skills, but through community engagement and parental love, we are also able to teach valuable life skills whether that be emotional resilience, confidence or socialisation. The trust parents and guardians place in us to care for their children and take over even just the smallest part of their development is a responsibility no-one at Chess Mates takes lightly.

Sometimes life and society’s expectations can be too much for any one person, but at Chess Mates we strive to create a community where support is our number one. No matter what, we encourage that our students should aspire to be strong and smart, kind and funny.

But we cannot do that without you. And that’s why we want to acknowledge you all for who you are: HEROES. 

– Jessica Ryan