Baltimore, MD - June 24, 2026 - School has ended or switched to a different schedule.  Young adults and children have graduated. Teachers have packed up their rooms and camps are in session or just about to start.  Summer is here! This is the season of endings and at the same time beginnings, or maybe just a pause in between from that here-to-there stage. For me personally, I am experiencing both.  As a teacher, it is a welcome recharge after a wonderful and productive and very busy year. For the children, the same holds true.  For the rest of you, I wish you a break at some point in that 12-month work cycle. Oh, how crucial it is!  This year, my husband and I experienced a milestone.  Our son, who is the youngest, completed the 8^th grade at the Yeshiva we have sent our other boys to for the past twenty-five years; a milestone indeed on many levels.  The different emotions have been percolating in my head for the past couple of weeks as their end of year program was approaching. I know I am not the only one feeling this as there were many other parents there who were also enjoying the nachas of their youngest graduate. While it isn’t a high school or college graduation, it is a big step as we watched our boys who started out in nursery, grow up together, celebrate siyumim and hascholas gemorah with covid somewhere in between. Progressing to middle school and then becoming bar mitzvahed, we behold the end of a chapter in Childhood.  For some, the early school years were just a natural progression from one grade to the next, and educational markers checked off. For others, it may have been a struggle as learning challenges became present, endured awkward and painful social interaction (bullying), with mental health issues entering the foray of the child development process. And, let’s be honest, some years were better than others with the quality of educator and class mix of personalities.  That’s the way it goes.  There is no one hundred percent amazing anywhere, other than the Yeshiva Shel Maaleh. These are not easy moments and times for the struggling child nor his parents.  For those who bypassed that, consider yourself blessed, and for those who didn’t, I also say consider yourself blessed.  Our children’s school experience is but a microscosm of the macro world where they will all face difficulty and challenge at some point and will need to learn to push through. For those who did not have smooth sailing, the middos, of what I consider Gevurah and Ratzon, are inherent and will serve them well.  For those who did, it will be a learning process and middos in the making. There are two big words in the progression of human development that are sometimes tossed around a bit too casually. They are Resiliency and Grit. Much research has been done on these traits, and for the sake of brevity here, they both essentially refer to the same thing.  The difference is in short term vs. long term of adjusting to change and difficulty and moving forward.  Resiliency and Grit are not developed in a vacuum of easy times.  They are slowly built up like a building that starts with the essential foundation of first the hole in the ground, followed by the cement poured in, then the placing of studs for the framework, and finally the tedious but necessary task of layering each brick in its measured way. The innards of the structure are detail-specific with first the room placements and windows and doors that makes way for the intricate electric work and wiring. Lastly comes the nachas part of picking paint colors, etc, however, you  can’t skip a step in the building process. You can’t skip a step in the building of a child, of his self, and essentially, his Neshama. This is hard work but oh so critical in the development of Man.