It has occurred to me that we may be doing our children a disservice when the primary advice that we give them each day is “Have a Great Day”. What concrete suggestions are we making in that comment?
Are we telling them to work hard, listen to their teachers, be a good friend, focus on their assignments, eat a healthy lunch? Or are we implying “have fun”? At the risk of coming across as a curmudgeon, it seems clear that we don’t have to emphasize the “have fun” part – kids naturally know how to do that, and teachers are in tune with making a lot of the school day “fun” in order to keep the attention of their classes and prevent learning from being painful. However, if we are to work together as a team, it might be more meaningful if parents would choose another slogan to impress on their school age child.
Are we telling them to work hard, listen to their teachers, be a good friend, focus on their assignments, eat a healthy lunch? Or are we implying “have fun”? At the risk of coming across as a curmudgeon, it seems clear that we don’t have to emphasize the “have fun” part – kids naturally know how to do that, and teachers are in tune with making a lot of the school day “fun” in order to keep the attention of their classes and prevent learning from being painful. However, if we are to work together as a team, it might be more meaningful if parents would choose another slogan to impress on their school age child.
What is one directive you could give your children each morning that would help them live and learn each day with an enthusiasm, curiosity, respect and compassion that benefits not only themselves, but everyone they encounter?
1 comment:
This is very thought provoking. I think it would be great to substitute something like "Be Kind" or "Give it your all today."
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