By Fedwa Wazwaz, Engage Minnesota
When my daughter and her classmates became my instructors, I learned how to do CPR and received free lessons in humility.
Monday, November 6th, 2017, I received a text message from my daughter reminding me of the CPR training today at her high school. She is part of a program for First Responders which trains students in Opportunities in Emergency Care.
While I agreed to become CPR certified, she along with her classmates were getting their certification for becoming CPR instructors.
I actually forgot about the training but was glad I had no other plans to cancel. The training was very informative.
We learned how to do chest compressions on an adult, child, and infant in case of a cardiac arrest. We got to practice a few times, including how to use an AED, a medical device used to deliver shocks between cycles of chest compressions. It was an informative and busy night.
I got to meet some of her teachers as well as other parents. I highly recommend the program for students entering high school, especially young girls as they also give instructions in self-defense.
One teacher stopped by to discuss my daughter with me, and she told me how she loves Maryam’s genuineness, laughter, and down to earth spirit. We chatted for awhile and it turned out she works also at the University of Minnesota like me. Small world. We decided to meet for lunch one day on campus and continue the conversation.
Then the skills test came and the instructor was someone my daughter’s age. He was very friendly and kind as we went through three sets of skills testing. He gave me the sheet which showed I passed. I was pretty excited and took a picture with my daughter and her other classmate.
As we left the school, my daughter reminded me that I only got CPR certified, and only received basic training, while she has more advanced training in CPR and is a CPR instructor now. I smiled at her “I am ahead of you mom” attitude. In some ways, we are worlds apart, and in other ways, we are so much alike.
While the training we received was in basic CPR, I believe receiving training from my daughter and her classmates also gave us free lessons in humility.
Fedwa Wazwaz is a Palestinian-American born in Jerusalem, Palestine and raised in the US. She is a public speaker and writer and lives in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.
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