Celebrating Success
Katie got her report card last week and it was a good one. It wasn’t straight A’s, but it was close. Way to go, Katie! Of course, I knew long before that piece of paper was in her hands what the grades were. She’s pretty good at monitoring the situation with her grades. At any given time, she usually knows how things are going with her grades. She checks in with her teachers fairly frequently to be sure she’s doing okay. She’s not a perfect student and she’s fine with a B. But she doesn’t like anything less than that. I’m lucky Katie keeps up with her work and is driven enough to take care of things on her own. So I try to be careful not to take it for granted. I try to tell her frequently how much I appreciate that report card days are not frightening days.
Making a Success of Failure
Way back in my college days, I had a professor who told us if she were hiring for a job and had two candidates who were equal in every other way, but one had straight A’s in school and the other had one D, she’d hire the one with the D. Her reasoning was that we learned from our struggles and failures. I’ve often thought about that statement, and have to agree. There is a certain knowledge and humility that comes from difficulty. I read an article recently that backed up that wise professor’s theory. Titled, “The Success of Failure: Pulitzer Prize Winner’s Surprising Road to the Top,” it tells the story of a writer who has to go through numerous drafts before completing a novel she is happy with. It also tells the stories of other successful professionals who have met failure along the way. And under the headline
Speaking Up vs. Back Talk
I recently read an article that really stuck with me. The headline to the article was something like “Teens Who Talk Back Are Better Off”. How so? I wondered. The term ‘back talk’ to me has a connotation of extreme unpleasantness because I think it describes an interaction that stems from an underlying disrespect from not only the teen but the parent. Because usually back talk will escalate into a battle of wills that can range on and on unless diffused immediately. One of the toughest things you do as a parent is to hold your ground and keep your cool when your teen talks back. The article discussed the theory that teens that talk back to parents and teachers were more likely to resist peer pressure. It described teens that were self-confident enough to express differing opinions to parents and teachers. I realized the writer meant ‘speaking up’ as
Tis The Season – For Hair
I am on a hair roll here. What ever happened to the notion of hanging the stockings on the mantle with care? It is all about the hair – at least with my bunch of teens, it seems. This wasn’t planned, not what I had envisioned to be going on this chilly winter’s night. I guess you could say it all began, the hair happenings, that is, back when Austin was getting the Mohawk haircuts and red coloring during the high school soccer play-offs. More recently, I traveled across the state (again) to retrieve Kass and bring her home for the holidays. I had stretched myself and made arrangements to stay overnight and together, we went to see the annual performance of the art school’s Nutcracker. It was fabulous and I was so glad that I made the effort to get the tickets and spend the night. Upon arrival at
A Good Samaritan
Most of us immediately think of the Biblical story as it relates to the good Samaritan whereby passersby overlooked a wounded man along the road and kept on walking to their destination unconcerned. Finally, a caring and sympathetic soul passed by and lifted up the injured man, taking him on to refuge. These days we have what are known as Good Samaritan laws which were created to “protect” those of us who find ourselves in a position to render aid to an unknown injured or sick person that we might find “along our way”, from being prosecuted and sued for “helping someone”. Amazing, isn’t it – where we’ve come? I am proud to say that my teen son Austin is indeed a good Samaritan. I have seen this feature surface in him many times and in many different ways. Many
