A father could tell that something is wrong with his daughter. Tomas Valero sees her crying almost every day. He has no clue about what is going on with her. To know about the problem that she is having, Tomas had to be completely discreet about it. He was very much surprised when he found out what is happening to her. Read along to know what Tomas did to uncover the truth.
Starting School
There will come a time where the child will reach a certain age, and he or she needs to start attending school. Both parents and the kid know that this is a critical time, but that is the big adjustment they will face. The first-time students will feel this change even if they have amazing teachers and friendly classmates.
Starting School
A Tough Adjustment
The kind of teacher that a student has will significantly impact how he or she can adjust. Imagine a kid adjusting to being a new student at a new school, and not having an excellent teacher. If the teacher is rude, this will be much harder for the student. Tomas feels that his daughter is having a hard time and knows that he needs to act on it.
A Tough Adjustment
She Was Scared
The uneasy feeling that a parent gets when they see or feel that their child is sad or in pain is very common. All parents only want the best for their child. Being a loving parent, Tomas also felt uneasy when he noticed that his daughter is not like herself lately.
She Was Scared
She Became More Emotional
Few days after the school started, Tomas just brushed off the nervous feeling that he is getting. He attributed it to the start of school, and his daughter is just feeling worried about it. But he, later on, think that this is more serious than what he expected and that he should know what is happening with her.
She Became More Emotional
The Same Routine
His worry increased when he noticed that his daughter would always plead to stay home. She would cry every morning and ask not to go to school anymore. Tomas is more convinced that this has something to do about her attending school.
The Same Routine
The Situation Worsened
As the days turned into months, Tomas can see the changes in his daughter. She does not show any signs of enthusiasm, and there are no indications that she enjoys attending school. Tomas feels more worried about her well-being, and more importantly, since she expresses her dislike of going to school.
The Situation Worsened
Reluctant
Tomas tried to find the real problem by talking to her, but his daughter was reluctant to tell him or his wife the truth. Despite this, he knew that he should be doing something for his daughter. He did not like seeing his poor little girl like this at all. His daughter does not want to talk about the problems she is facing in her school. Even her mother does not know the troubles that she has. Tomas needs to do something for her because she has been suffering for a few months already.
Reluctant
Her New School
His daughter was like an ordinary child. She has a creative mind, playful, and she can make friends easily. He did not observe anything different from his daughter’s attitude before she started attending kindergarten at Pine Grove Elementary School.
Her New School
She Began To Change
As soon as she started kindergarten, Tomas noticed that his daughter became more emotional, although he cannot pinpoint the reason for this change. He can only infer that the changes happening to his daughter have something to do about the school she is studying in. Could it be her classmates or other students at the school, the teachers or maybe the school itself?
She Began To Change
Did Well In School
His daughter attended a different school before going to Pine Grove Elementary School. When she was studying in her old school, there were no issues. She was an intelligent student, she gets good grades, and her teachers commend her. However, a few months into her new school, she is now getting low grades, which is unlike her.
Did Well In School
Feeling So Powerless
The low grades that she’s getting is not the only issue for Tomas. She is becoming more emotional before going to school and when she arrives home from school. As a loving father, Tomas felt powerless in this situation. He does not want to see his once cheerful girl become more and more depressed. His resolve is to know what is happening at her school.
Feeling So Powerless
The Concerned Father
Tomas still tries to understand what is happening to his daughter. When he tries to ask her, she stays silent, and now he feels that his daughter thinks that he cannot confide in him. He tried to connect the dots and hopes that he get to solve the problem that his daughter is having.
The Concerned Father
A Stable, Happy Life
The only thing that he can think of is that his daughter is experiencing a hard time at school. He suspects that the reason is not related to the household since they are a typical family, with a steady income, and live happily at home.
A Stable, Happy Life
Patience Is A Virtue
Everyone knows the saying, “patience is a virtue.” This saying is applicable in almost everything and every situation in life. This statement also holds in raising young kids. Whether you are a teacher or a parent, sometimes kids are too much to handle. But we go back to the saying and understand how important our role is in cultivating their young minds. It is essential to be patient while the kids are processing a lot of information around them.
Patience Is A Virtue
Her Formative Years
Tomas’ daughter is still in her formative years. Her young mind is trying to grasp everything around her. Thus this is a significant phase in her life. This phase may contribute to how her character molds in the next stages of her life.
Her Formative Years
Preparation For The Future
Aside from his daughter in kindergarten, Tomas and his wife have another girl and a son. The parents raised the three kids with a positive outlook in life, and they are encouraged to be the best version of themselves. Both he and his wife understand the importance of preparing their young ones for what can happen in the future, especially winning against the challenges they may encounter.
Preparation For The Future
More Harm Than Good
As he tried to connect the dots, Tomas can only think that a strict teacher at school can be the cause of their daughter’s lack of willingness to attend school. If what he suspects is right, this teacher may cause her trauma, which will do more harm than good for her.
More Harm Than Good
Creating A Plan
Since Tomas knows that his daughter will not tell him the truth about her problems, he needs to be more creative in finding out what is happening to her. By doing so, he will also not risk disappointing or aggravating the emotions of his daughter further.
Creating A Plan
Time To Take Action
Tomas thought hard on how he can fix the issue that her daughter is having at school. Protecting his daughter is his duty as her dad; he needs to protect her when she feels threatened or just to make sure that his young daughter feels happy in her environment.
Time To Take Action
How Would He Do It?
He is sure that showing up at school and sitting in her classes will alter the teacher’s behavior. The teacher may become friendlier or more accommodating, and he will not be able to get to the bottom of the issue. He should be able to know what is happening without being physically present at school.
How Would He Do It?
Hidden Hearing Device
The solution that Tomas thought of is to ‘listen in.’ He created a small hearing device that he can clip to his daughter’s hair. Doing this will not be suspicious at all, and he can listen to what is happening at school without presenting himself.
Hidden Hearing Device
Drastic Measures
What he thought of is the perfect plan for him. Even if he believes that this plan may be a bit drastic, he needs to do this for his daughter’s well-being. Tomas didn’t tell her daughter about the device that he put in her hair; he does not want her to be distracted with it anyway.
Drastic Measures
Anticipation
Even if his investigation is not complete, Tomas already feels excited to finally know why his daughter is acting the way she is. If successful, this will give them the peace of mind that they need since they can already take action. After school, Tomas was eagerly waiting for his little girl at the door, and he smiled at her as she ran up the driveway.
Anticipation
Astounding Results
As soon as he got the device, Tomas immediately listened to the recording. He was surprised by the contents of it. After listening to it, the record gave him the answers that he needs. His attempt to know his daughter’s issue has been successful.
Astounding Results
The Source Of The Problems
In a way, Tomas was kind of expecting the outcome, but he was still happy that he got his proof. The recording confirmed that the teacher was mean to her students. He knows that this evidence should not be wasting it, so he planned the next steps he would take.
The Source Of The Problems
Teacher Troubles
From the recording, it was clear that the teacher was treating her students unjustly. This revelation saddened Tomas because the parents have entrusted their child to this teacher. The parents expect that she will be more compassionate with the kids; he could not understand why the teacher acts this way.
Teacher Troubles
What To Do?
What did Tomas find out from the recordings? The teacher is using a tone that is not appropriate for the kids because the sound is degrading. To add to that, she said some offensive things and would yell at the students over minor details.
What To Do?
Sick To His Stomach
He could not justify the attitude of the teacher towards her students. The moment he came to realize that the person he entrusted his child with is not trustworthy, he plans to take action immediately. Tomas decided to bring up this issue with the public school district.
Sick To His Stomach
Filing A Complaint
Tomas decided to take up the issue immediately to the school district. He knows that talking things over with the teacher may not resolve the problem, and he wants the board to take action immediately. Tomas scheduled an appointment and told them about his daughter’s story since she started studying at the school.
Filing A Complaint
Their Poor Response
Tomas knows that he has a valid complaint with solid proof to back it up, but he feels as if the district failed to take proper action on the issue. He feels terrible that this teacher was treating children poorly daily and can not help them.
Their Poor Response
No Action Taken
Tomas wanted the teacher to get more than a disciplinary sanction for how she treated her students. It feels as if she was terrorizing the kids, but the district just gave her the minimum penalty compared to what she did. He felt distraught to know that this was the only action taken against her.
No Action Taken
Making His Point
After filing the complaint, the same teacher is still teaching his daughter at school. It was apparent to him that he needs to take matters into his own hands and to give the teacher what she deserves. Duncan, the kindergarten teacher, will get what she should have received in the first place.
Making His Point
A Parent’s Duty
The retribution is no longer about his daughter; he wants to solve the cause of the concern. He feels that the students’ well-being were all affected, just like how his daughter was. Moving her daughter to another class will not solve the core problem, other kids will still be affected by this teacher. With that in mind, Tomas did not entertain that school’s suggestion to move her daughter to a different class.
A Parent’s Duty
For The Kids
Another upsetting factor for Tomas was the fact that the school did not look much into the issue. The school’s board does not understand how the lives of the kids will be affected as long as Duncan is teaching the kindergarteners. Duncan can still terrorize these kids, and these kids will be affected by her words and her anger. With the help of other parents, they came up to the school and protested. The school did not take them seriously, but he did not give up easily.
For The Kids
Signing A Petition
Tomas decided to start a petition on Change.org. Not long after, a lot of people knew how Duncan was treating the kids in his class. Despite not being able to get the changes that he wanted when he reported to the public school district and the school board, people are now supporting his cause. He was able to gather 2,000 signatures, and they were all vouching to dismiss Duncan! All efforts that Tomas did to fight for this cause were not wasted.
Signing A Petition
The Media Spotlight
He suddenly found himself in the spotlight when the local news channels started talking about what was happening at Pine Grave. The media and the viewers of the news admired Tomas’ perseverance and how he decided to take action for the kids at Pine Grave. Tomas was not expecting that the media would pick up this news.
The Media Spotlight
The Entire Country
Tomas was not able to get Duncan fired, but the way the story is gaining traction across the nation has given him light that things would be better. The incidents that happened at Pine Grave School became such a huge story. It is being talked about all over the country, and people would discuss what this teacher did.
The Entire Country
Preventing Childhood Traumas
These kids may have developed habits and insecurities that they can bring with them while growing up, or worse, which will become embedded in their personalities. The trauma can be caused by how Duncan has treated her students.
Preventing Childhood Traumas
What Could Have Been
How he handled the situation made a lot of difference. If Tomas has not been observant and aggressive enough to get to the root of his daughter’s issue, she may have suffered a trauma that she will carry with her. Tomas’ actions contributed to avoiding or at least minimizing the effects of the trauma that the children in Duncan’s class may have developed.
What Could Have Been
Being A Mentor
To be a good role model for your child, you must be critical of your actions and behaviors. Being aware of yourself is not always easy; you have to understand yourself and proactively solve the issues you have before you can consider yourself a role model and become someone that you want your child to emulate.
Being A Mentor
The Best Parent Possible
Not everything will go our way no matter how hard we try to achieve it. Tomas learned this the hard way when the district and the board did not seriously take his claim. Tomas did not lose hope; he considered the well-being of his daughter, but he also thought of how other kids would be affected.
The Best Parent Possible
A Teacher’s Responsibility
Together with the parents, the teachers are also responsible for making sure that they can mold kids into better versions of themselves. They must be helping the kids learn academically and also inspire their students to be more critical and become more ready for the future.
A Teacher’s Responsibility
Her Father’s Efforts
Terrorizing children or being threatening will not evoke a positive response in children. They will feel anxious, which can also hinder their learning and growth. This attitude is also not fitting for teachers, especially if the teacher is teaching kids. We sure hope that Tomas’ efforts have helped fix the problem. We will know if the administration took him seriously after everything he did.
Her Father’s Efforts
Holding Onto Hope
The school did not fire Duncan, so she continues to teach at school. Amidst this, Tomas is still hoping that Duncan realizes that belittling the kids in her class will not do her any good. She should have made changes to how she interacts with her students.
Holding Onto Hope
Lives At Stake
Tomas is looking forward to knowing that all his actions will create a positive impact. He is still hoping that the school will not contribute to putting the children at the stake of trauma. All they needed to do was correct the action of a teacher that seems ill-fitting to teach kindergarten students. No matter how he tried to look at it, it looks like the school is risking the kids’ development by letting a short-tempered teacher conduct classes.
Lives At Stake
Making Them Stronger
What happened to Tomas and his family was very tough, but they were able to come closer and more united despite the ordeal. He is not regretting his actions to be more involved in his child’s emotions because he is more at peace, knowing that he is helping her develop better.
Making Them Stronger
A Better Dad
Tomas feels that he learned to be more in sync with his kids. He values the importance of being open with his kids and making sure that they know he is available when they need him. As for his daughter, she is now attending a class that is being taught by another more suitable teacher.
A Better Dad
Always There
No matter what happens, Tomas and his wife will be the allies of their two daughters and son. The level of commitment that they have in raising the kids is commendable; if not for their parents’ actions, their young daughter will not be able to move on from the bullying of her teacher and may struggle a lot while dealing with it.
Always There
Good Parents
Tomas and Laici will ensure that their kids’ best interest will always be their priorities as parents. The dedication they have since their children were born until this point can be distinguished as a good parent’s qualities.
Good Parents
Support System
Aliya has been blessed with both a reliable support system and a stable life at home. The support system and having a stable experience at home matters in helping a child grow up to be productive members of society. As head of the family, the parents should support their child as they grow and learn about the challenges in life.
Support System
Preparation
The parents of Aliya have been preparing for her for quite a long time. It took sometime before Laici was able to conceive their first child, which helped make them mentally and physically capable of taking care of a child.
Preparation
Together Forever
Their time in the Army paved the way for Tomas meeting Laici. They immediately developed a healthy relationship, and as their relationship grew, they knew that they would like to spend their lives together. Tomas was going to be assigned, so they did not waste more time and decided that they should marry each other before deployment.
Together Forever
Hard Times
Being a parent while serving in the Army presented a lot of challenges. It was hard enough to be a parent in general, but being far away from his wife and his new daughter was much more complicated than he’d imagined.
Hard Times
At Peace
Tomas would always yearn for his little girl, and he wishes to be with her. Being new at parenting, his wife also misses him and knows this experience could have been better if they shared it. It was consolation enough for Tomas that he knows that his wife is making sure that his daughter is well cared for.
At Peace
Growing Up
Her parents noticed that Aliya has been growing up to be a well-mannered girl. How Aliya has been growing up has made her parents very proud of her. Tomas would soon be able to go back to his family, and he was eagerly counting the days until he gets home. He cannot wait to see his daughter grow up to be a beautiful young kid.
Growing Up
So Lucky
They felt extremely blessed that Aliya was such a quiet baby. She would not cry a lot, and sometimes her parents forget that she is with them because she is such a no-fuss baby. She would sleep longer compared to other babies giving them more time to move around. Indeed, they felt fortunate.
So Lucky
Sorry Dad
Aliya is not paying much attention to her dad’s cellphone. She saw something in her thumb that captured her interest. Sorry about that, Tomas, but at least she enjoys being held by her dad. Can we add, she looks super cute with her little bow!
Sorry Dad
Little Princess
Aliya decided to dress up as a princess in this photo. She and her little sister decided to play dress-up one day while they were eating cookies. Aliya has grown up well, and we can see how playful she has become.
Little Princess
Funny Faces
Tomas wanted Aliya to take the same photo that she did when she was growing up. She made this funny but adorable face while her teeth were still growing. To re-enact that Tomas made Aliya dress in a similar outfit and did the same smile charming smile when she was younger.
Funny Faces
More Kids
Tomas and Laici enjoyed parenthood a lot. They decided that it’s time to try for their third baby. They were expecting a son this time! Their little family is growing more, and they love every minute of it.
More Kids
3 Bundles Of Joy
And then, there are three kids. See how the three siblings look very similar to one another; it’s a mix of both their mother and father. Aliya is also like a reflection of her mom with her glasses. That purple frame looks too cute on her!
3 Bundles Of Joy
Camera Queens
Their mom loves to take selfies with the girls. The girls are enjoying Snapchat a lot, and they have probably gone through all the filters that the app has! Their mom would upload these photos for their family and friends to enjoy as well. Time flies quickly!
Camera Queens
All The Way Up
Aliya enjoyed riding his dad’s shoulders when she was much smaller. She can see a lot when he lets her sit in his shoulders, and her dad would always hold her hand tight to make sure she will not fall. Look at how excited she looks in this photo!
Screenshot 8
Matching
Tomas, Laici, and Aliya all looked dashing in their matching outfits when they attended a family member’s wedding. Aliya looks super adorable while she’s enjoying walking. Nobody thought it could be so fun. Can I just add that they all look lovely?
Matching
Reading Is Fun
Aliya enjoys it when Tomas reads aloud to her. Reading was their bonding time together when she was younger. Aliya would put the binky in her mouth, and the soothing sound of her dad’s voice will help her fall asleep in a few minutes.
Reading Is Fun
Always Smiling
No matter how busy Tomas is, he makes sure that his family, especially his kids, are happy and healthy. It is his life’s mission to bring a smile on their faces no matter what the situation is. In return, whenever he thinks about his kids, he always feels happy about it.
Always Smiling
Daddy’s Little Girls
When Tomas carries Aliya’s sister, Aliya makes sure she joins in on the fun. Aliya loves her role as a big sister, and she enjoys teaching her little sister the lessons she learned as she grew up. Of course, these girls are very special to their daddy. See how much they love their father.
Daddy’s Little Girls
Christmas Time
Guess what the favorite holiday season of Aliya and her family is. It is the Christmas season! There was a point where Aliya would not let herself get close to Santa Claus. But look at how she is not afraid of him anymore now. This cute little girl could also distract Santa Claus.
Christmas Time
A Decade
When you’re enjoying parenthood, you feel that time is slipping away. For Tomas and Laici, they feel as if it was just a few days ago when they experienced becoming first-time parents. Aliya has been making her parents proud for a decade now.
A Decade
Unconditional Support
These three kids were blessed with wonderful parents. It can be proven by how their parents love and provide them with unconditional support, not only in times of need but also in all the time. For Tomas, he aims to guide his kids while they are growing up and let them ease into the challenges that life may offer.
Unconditional Support
Always There
What happened with Aliya when she was in kindergarten is all over now. Tomas wishes that someday, Aliya will also be a valuable member of the society where she belongs. He has high hopes for his daughter; that is why he also did his best to support her when she was having trouble at school — no matter how difficult it can be.
Always There
A Great Dad
His daughter was not acting herself. She was acting strange, and Tomas knew that there is something wrong with her. He was able to prove that his teacher was terrorizing not only his kid but also the other students in the class. If not for Tomas’ initiative and want for change, this may continue to happen to other kids. This story shows how a normal father with a beautiful heart could affect a lot of people. Tomas Valero has such a beautiful soul as a dad.
A Great Dad