Sunday, May 31, 2009
Summer
Summer is here! 3 days in and already "I'M BORED!" is ringing through the house. God help me! Sometimes I think the people who work 12 months a year actually have it right because paying for camp everyday might actually cost less that trying to keep people entertained. This is when I sometimes wish we didn't live in HOT Phoenix or had a vacation home some place much cooler so the kids would go outside!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Trucking along
Sorry for the delay in posts recently. The end of the school year is a killer for us. My job wrapping up, the kids wrapping up their school year. CRAZY!
Highlight of the week. My son won a ribbon at the science fair! YEAH! He got 1st place honorable mention in 3-6th grades. He was very excited. I was shocked and very pleased for him. Little tidbits like that are always good for the self esteem.
The difficult part of the evening was my daughter. She is a stellar student, 3rd grade. And she walked away with nothing. When she doesn't win something, and ESPECIALLY, when her brother does win something, she has a VERY difficult time with it. Lots of "it's not fair!" I struggle because this is where I am not a very good mom. My attitude is just "get over it." This is the way life works! If there are winners, there are also people who don't win (I don't call them losers because that seems harsh).
We have created such a mixed up society of kids who really, don't lose well. We have community sports teams where everyone gets trophies just for showing up. We don't even keep score at all those sports games when they are little. The idea is to teach them it doesn't matter if they win or lose so NOBODY will be winning or losing. Then, we throw them out into the big bad world as they get a bit older, where there are competitions for various things, writing, science, competitive sports. And they FAIL because as soon as they lose, they are crushed! If we want to teach them to be good sports, then teach them as they fail. That is the sign of a good sport, someone who can lose with dignity!
Winning is easy.
Losing is torture.
My daughter even tried to get me to take her out and "buy" her something, since she didn't win anything. Of course I didn't. And I wasn't even really nice about it. I hate whining! Thankfully, she got over it as we got into watching American Idol! :)
Anyway, today I have a meeting at my son's new school with the special ed director and some staff to talk about next year. Have no idea what to expect. Wish me luck!
Highlight of the week. My son won a ribbon at the science fair! YEAH! He got 1st place honorable mention in 3-6th grades. He was very excited. I was shocked and very pleased for him. Little tidbits like that are always good for the self esteem.
The difficult part of the evening was my daughter. She is a stellar student, 3rd grade. And she walked away with nothing. When she doesn't win something, and ESPECIALLY, when her brother does win something, she has a VERY difficult time with it. Lots of "it's not fair!" I struggle because this is where I am not a very good mom. My attitude is just "get over it." This is the way life works! If there are winners, there are also people who don't win (I don't call them losers because that seems harsh).
We have created such a mixed up society of kids who really, don't lose well. We have community sports teams where everyone gets trophies just for showing up. We don't even keep score at all those sports games when they are little. The idea is to teach them it doesn't matter if they win or lose so NOBODY will be winning or losing. Then, we throw them out into the big bad world as they get a bit older, where there are competitions for various things, writing, science, competitive sports. And they FAIL because as soon as they lose, they are crushed! If we want to teach them to be good sports, then teach them as they fail. That is the sign of a good sport, someone who can lose with dignity!
Winning is easy.
Losing is torture.
My daughter even tried to get me to take her out and "buy" her something, since she didn't win anything. Of course I didn't. And I wasn't even really nice about it. I hate whining! Thankfully, she got over it as we got into watching American Idol! :)
Anyway, today I have a meeting at my son's new school with the special ed director and some staff to talk about next year. Have no idea what to expect. Wish me luck!
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