Dear Nancy: Please give a warm welcome to...

Editor's note: Nancy Johnson new parenting columnis for the Potomac News & Manassas Journal Messenger. She offers answers and advice to questions from parents, children and care-takers in her column, " Dear Nancy."

As long as I can remember I have loved children. As a child I would beg my mom to have more children. She'd say "no," then I'd say, "I am going to have eight children when I grow up." I couldn't wait till I was 12 years old so I could baby sit. From that time on, children have been a big part of my life.

I babysat from 12 all the way through college, and ultimately, that's how I met my husband. I took care of his younger brother, Jeffrey, who has Down's Syndrome. Jeffrey was very upset when I married his brother because he said he wanted to marry me when he grew up.

I graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in health education, with the intention of teaching health or working as a children's health educator in a hospital. My husband and I were married that same year, though we didn't have eight children; we had four.

We'd always planned for me to stay home with the children. I loved being with them but admit to this day that it was the hardest and most rewarding job I have ever done.

I started a daycare in my home, which was very successful for 20 years. I met so many wonderful children and parents that were such an unforgettable source of support and friendship.

When my youngest child started preschool, I got a job teaching a 3- and 4-year-old class at her school.

It was during that time I created a preschool curriculum called "Teaching Kindness to Pre-schoolers." I implemented this program in my classes and also taught it to other teachers at early childhood education conferences.

All of a sudden I was 45, with no one at home during the day: my two older children were out of the house, my youngest son was in seventh grade and my baby was in third grade. It was time for me to get moving.

I decided to make use of my college degree, which involved a lot of biology courses. I had to take a lot of classes, go on interviews, and hope that someone could feel my love and passion for children and education. I was hired at Rippon Middle School, where I've been for the past nine years, to teach life science to 125 seventh graders! My students deeply impact my life and I enjoy being with them.

My two older children are married. My daughter works at a credit union. My son is a lawyer in the Army, recently deployed to Afghanistan. Between the two of them, I've got three grand-daughters.

My youngest son is a junior at Millersville University studying to be a meteorologist. My youngest child is graduating from Hylton High School soon. She is going off to college to study early child-hood education.

My husband and I will soon be "empty nesters"… a new passage in our lives.

I have learned a lot working with, and teaching, children and other parents over the years, and now offer my services to you.

I invite you to send me questions about parenting, children and school issues. I also welcome questions from children.

Nancy Johnson lives in Prince William County. She is a seventh-grade teacher at Rippon Middle School, a mother, grandmother and retired in-home child-care provider. She can be reached at DearNancy1104@yahoo.com.