Showing posts with label
Quotes and other Inspiring things.
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Showing posts with label
Quotes and other Inspiring things.
Show all posts
The Fashionista's new school (how long before I can stop saying 'new' school I wonder) came home from her first day of school and showed me one of the things that they do there, that I think is a pretty cool idea and have been meaning to share.
Her tutor teacher explained to the girls that at their school they prefer to encourage the students for good behaviour rather than punish them for bad. I was very happy to hear that, as that is how I attempt to bring up my children. I say attempt as sometimes I do end up giving them punishments ... I mean how many times can one ask someone to please get off minecraft and set the table! So no tablet or device punishments come into place sometimes.
So essentially what happens is that each student gets a card which they can place in front of themselves on their desk during their class.
The rules are the student needs to display
- a willingness to learn
- interaction with respect
- strive to understand
- engage to achieve
If they are displaying these behaviours whilst in class, then the teacher of that class signs it. Not all teachers remember to walk around the classroom, so if they want to, the students can go up to the teacher to have it signed once class is finished. Once the card has been filled they hand it back to their tutor teacher for a new one and the signed one gets submitted to the office.
Once three are accrued they received a Bronze certificate, 6 for Silver and 10 they earn a gold owl badge to proudly wear on the lapel of their blazers. They also have it presented by the School Principal at a special ceremony.
No guessing who already has her sights set on getting that badge. She has completed three cards already ... that poor school won't know what's hit them.
I have discussed it with Agent Smelly and we are going to make up something similar here for her so she can earn stuff at home. She doesn't want a certificate though she has chosen food rewards ... no surprises there either!
Earlier in 2012 I suggested to the girls that they set aside some of their pocket money each week to donate to a worthy cause. I explained the reasoning behind it, but I didn't force them into it as sometimes that doesn't really teach children anything, except maybe resentment. I simply explained the concept, we discussed it further, and I left it to them to run with it if they wanted to.
Last month, just before Christmas, I overheard both girls, who were sitting by the coffee table, counting their money discuss donating money. My ears pricked up and I looked over to see The Fashionista emptying the change out of a money box onto the coffee table. She told her younger sister, that she was giving that money to the SPCA. Agent Smelly replied that she was going to give her money "to the cancer people".
I tell you it was a pretty amazing moment for me. I kept doing what I was doing in the kitchen but a HUGE, warm, glow spread through me. I was so proud that rather than be tempted into spending the money in those containers they chose to donate it. I had in fact that I had suggested it to them earlier in the year. Granted it was not a lot of money but it did work out to be a a few weeks of pocket money (imagine you donating 3 weeks of salary) and I think the act is more important at this stage of their young lives than the amount.
Today I could see Agent Smelly being rather industrious at the table but I didn't bother her, because she was being quiet and I could see that she was just making something with some craft supplies and causing no harm. Later that night I saw this sitting on the bench. She had popped a $2 coin in the bottom of the canister and plans on filling it for 2013.
I am really chuffed with the way they have both taken on board the concept of giving money to others. Both the Papa and I donate regularly to causes and we feel that we have been so blessed morally and financially because we do.
Because I homeschool my girls I spend a lot, and I mean a lot, of time with my daughters.
There are times when I am in a rush or frustrated, or simply tired, when I need to remind myself to stop and look at things through their eyes, instead of forcing them to grow up, behave, and look through mine. Children see things that we adults often miss, and they also tend to keep things simple whereas, sometimes we can over-complicate things that really don't need to be that complicated.
I read this piece below recently, and thought it a great reminder of these things.
"When I look at sprouting daisies, I see weeds that are taking over my garden.
- My kids see flowers for Mum and a novelty necklace.
When I look at a grinning old drunk, I see a guy who smells and probably wants money, and I turn away.
- My kids see someone smiling at them and they smile back.
When I hear music I love, I know I can't carry much of a tune, so I sit self-consciously and just listen.
- My kids feel the beat, move their bodies, and sing out the words - and if they don't know the words, they make them up!
When I feel wind on my face, I brace myself against it because it slows me down and mucks up my hair.
- My kids close their eyes, spread their arms and fly with it, until they fall to the ground laughing.
When I pray, I say thee and thou, bless this and bless that.
- My kids say "Hi God! Thanks for my toys and my friends. Please keep the bad dreams away tonight. And sorry, I don't want to go to heaven yet - Mum and Dad would miss me".
When I see a puddle I step around it, seeing only muddy shoes, dirty carpets and wet washing.
- My kids sit in it, seeing dams to build, rivers to cross and worms to play with.
Makes you wonder which is more important - what we teach our kids, or what they teach us?" Author Unknown
The other day I got out of my car and noticed this puddle with a few rocks in it, not really that unusual around here, until I took a closer look. Some wee fairy (Agent Smelly I suspect) had placed the rocks into a heart in the middle of the puddle. Each time I pass that little rock heart I smile. Thank goodness for little girls, ey!
Remember nothing will make your child happier than for you to join them in some of their adventures, even if we deem them to be a bit silly (and a little more work for us later on). So next time you see a puddle grab your kiddies hands and jump in it together! Those muddy and wet clothes will long be forgotten but the beautiful memory that you and your child will have just made will never be.
We do not choose to be born.
We do not choose our parents.
We do not choose our historical epoch, or the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing.
We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time or conditions of our death.
But within all this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we shall live:
courageously or in cowardice, honorably or dishonorably, with purpose or adrift.
We decide what is important and what is trivial in life.
We decide that what makes us significant is either what we do or what we refuse to do.
But no matter how indifferent the universe may be to our choices and decisions, these choices and decisions are ours to make.
We decide.
We choose.
And as we decide and choose, so are our lives formed.
In the end, forming our own destiny is what ambition is about.
