Your patience will be both appreciated and rewarded
Give yourself permission to dream. Fuel your kids' dreams too. Once in a while, that might even mean letting them stay up past their bedtimes.
One thing that makes it possible to be an optimist is if you have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose.
If I work hard enough, there will be things I can do tomorrow that I can't do today.
Don't bail; the best pieces of gold are at the bottom of the barrel of crap.
We need to make sure our students are exerting themselves. We need to praise them when they deserve it and to tell them honestly when they have it in them to work harder.