By: Lora Wimsatt
And children across the Owensboro / Daviess County community are filling their backpacks with sharp pencils, new crayons and smooth, clean paper.
Parents remind their children to do their best this year … to put forth their best effort, to explore and learn and grow.
Most children have a “favorite subject” in school. It’s easy to build on their natural enthusiasm for that subject, whether it’s reading, science, social studies, music, art, physical education or anything else.
Academic growth is important! But school involves so much more than a child’s progress from learning his ABC’s to understanding the nuances of classic literature. The classroom is also a “garden spot” for a child’s social development as well.
Students of all ages – from the 3-year-old preschooler to the high school senior – learn important, lifelong lessons at school in areas that don’t show up on any report card. These are the lessons involving relationships.
So as children of all ages and all grade levels are preparing for “back to school,” Moms and Dads can take this opportunity to gently encourage their sons and daughters to excel in the area of “mathematics” – but not the math that has anything to do with numbers and calculators and algebra.
An anonymous poem says it best:
“A friend should be mathematical –
He should multiply the joy,
Divide the sorrow,
Subtract the past
Add to tomorrow.
Calculate the need
Deep in your heart
And always be bigger
Than the sum of your parts.”
Help your child learn a lesson that will have more of a positive impact on his or her life than all the homework in the world.
Teach him to multiply the joy – to congratulate the kid who wins the race in gym, compliment the kid with the amazing science fair project, celebrate with the student who knew that polar bears are invisible to infrared cameras because of their transparent hair.
Encourage your child to divide the sorrow – to speak to the shy new kid who just moved to town, cheer on the kid who always strikes out in kickball, take the seat next to the kid who is sitting alone on the school bus.
Urge her to subtract the past – to not remind anyone at high school about the kid who threw up in kindergarten, make an effort to be friends with the kid who wasn’t easy to get along with last year, and invite everyone to her birthday party – even the girl who stole her BFF.
Teach him to add to tomorrow – to offer to be a “study buddy” for the kid who never gets 100 on the spelling test, meet for extra practice with the kid who is their main competition for “first chair” in orchestra, look for opportunities to share genuine compliments and words of encouragement to those who need it most.
“Back to School” is the perfect opportunity to remind your child – sometimes the most valuable lessons we learn in life are those that are not graded.