Amanda Cox is a hardworking teacher who always sees the best in people. One day, she saw how one student’s mother was inspiring her child. So she shared it with the world.

One morning, Amanda Cox began teaching, when she realized that she was running low on pencils.

So she asked the kids if they had any pencils to spare.

One child had plenty of pencils, and he would give them out, on one condition. He needed to have them back at the end of the day.

Cox assured him that he would get the pencils back.

So the boy handed the teacher the pencils.

While Cox was sharpening one of the pencils, she noticed something odd on it. It was some red writing.

She held the pencil closer and read the little message. It said, “You are so talented.”

Cox realized that the boy’s mother must have taken the time to write this message on the pencil as a pick-me-up.

Then she looked at the rest of the pencils that she had. They said, “This will be a great year,” “You are creative” and “You are phenomenal.”

Then Cox went up to the boy and asked if she could see the rest of the pencils. She was amazed at the variety of messages written on top of them.

“Never give up.” “You can do this.” “You are very knowledgeable.”

Every pencil had something different written on it.

Clearly, the boy’s mother had spent a few minutes working out the messages. It didn’t take her long, but the effect on her child was immense.

He loved those pencils, which was why he had asked for them back at the end of the lesson.

“Thanks to his mom, he was reminded of his self worth and wanted to share the same feeling with his classmates.” – Amanda Cox.

Some may think that these messages are corny. But for the kid, they meant a lot. And if they inspire a child to succeed, then surely that’s a fantastic thing?

Amanda then posted a picture of the pencils, along with their story, to Facebook. The post soon went viral. To date it has had over 607,000 reactions. It also has more than 431,000 shares and 45,000 comments. People have been saying things like this:

Of course, this isn’t the only way to inspire a kid at school.

The classic method is the lunch box note. Yes, it may be a little cliche, but the great thing about kids is that they’re too young to know this, so write lunch notes galore!

And naturally, there are things that can help outside of a classroom setting.

Implementing a rewards system is always a good idea. Just remember that it’s important to reward effort over outcome. If you reward a kid for trying their hardest, then they’ll be motivated to keep on trying in the future, even if the result of their study leaves a little to be desired.

Right now, we could all do with some help in our professional lives. For kids, this help has to come from their parents. Small things, like messages, could make all the difference.

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Source: Amanda Cox, Bored Panda, Child Mind Institute