Something I Hate to Hear!

Being busy in the class has certainly cut down on my time to blog and get my thoughts out. This little rant has been with me for awhile, and I just now found the time to get it out.

As educators we talk a lot, but we also hear a lot. If we are decent listeners. I am pleased about most things I hear, but there are some big-uglys that sting a bit when I hear them. The phrase I most hate to hear actually comes from parents.

The scene looks like this. I am talking to a parent about their child who is having some difficulties. They are listening to the interventions I have tried, the assessment results, and my plan for going forward. Then it is their turn to talk. Inevitably, I usually hear one of two answers. The first answer, "What can I do at home to help?" (Woohoo!) The other answer is the phrase I despise. "I was never really good at __________ in school either." (Noooo!)

There are many things we automatically pass down to our kids. A child's ability to succeed in a certain area is not always tied to your past failure. I understand that you may not be able to provide a lot of help at home because of your past. I understand that you may not have a lot of resources at your disposal to boost success. That is okay with me. What real gets to me is a mindset in parents that sets the bar way too low. A goal for every parent should be to see our children achieve more then we ever did. We have to be okay with our kids being smarter than us. It has to be okay when they reach your aspirations and go even higher. It is not always easy to lay down and let our children boost higher from our backs. There is pride to swallow.
One of my favorite lines of Jesus is from John 12:24, "I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit." In dying to our own desires, we produce so much more in our kids than we could ever have done in our own strength.