School Rocks

READY… “Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.” ~ John W. Gardner

AIM… How many of you remember the School House Rocks jingles that were played on Saturday mornings in-between our favorite cartoons? You know the ones like “Conjunction Junction, what’s your function?” How about “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly get your adverbs here” or “I’m just a bill.” I have to be honest; I loved those little jingles and can still sing most of the choruses to them. Even though, at the time, I probably had no idea I was learning valuable lessons, I realize now what a brilliant idea it was to show those School House Rocks commercials during kid TV time because I really DID learn something.

Too bad our children’s TV time doesn’t have those great little songs or educational commercials. Now during commercial time, our kids get to learn about the best dating websites, finding their perfect soul mate, what type of medications to take for depression and the glories of male enhancement drugs. Wow, aren’t they lucky! Wonder if they’ll grow to be thankful that they really learned something during those commercial breaks? Even if we are diligent about the shows are children watch, it’s hard to censor family television time due to all the questionable advertising attacks.

The truth of the matter is, regardless what your children watch on TV, it’s up to you, their parents, to really teach your children what they need to know. Yes, they are required to go to school to learn the basics of education. However, the schools are not required to teach your children common sense, or about making good decisions and how to grow up with morals. It is not the teacher’s job to instruct your children in the ways of good manners, how to treat other boys and girls, and sexual responsibility. It’s time that we, their parents, realize that the best teachers in the world are the ones our children look at every single day when they wake up and right before they go to sleep. It’s time to take responsibility for making sure our children know how to behave in public, how to treat other people with respect and how to become responsible young people. If WE aren’t setting a good example, then how can we expect them to grow up and be any different? Remember, school does rock, but great parents blow the socks off school any day!

FIRE! Take time to talk to your child this week. Don’t just ask him about his day, ask direct questions about how he gets along with the other students and what he’s most excited about or what he’s most afraid of this year. Be encouraging and use your time together as a teachable moment for both of you to learn something new.

Be Excellent!
Lori