“What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers.”
-Martina Horner, US Educator
ScreamFree’s Take
Hi everyone Jenny here. I saw this quote and I had to pipe in on this one because of what just happened today. If you’ll indulge me…
This week, my son Brandon asked me to come up to his school for the annual book fair. I was in the middle of cooking dinner, doing laundry, and trying to fix a broken heel at the time, so I gave him a halfhearted nod and told him that I would see what I could do.
As it turned out, I had a fortuitous break in my schedule the next day and I was able to drive over and make the fair just as his class was entering. When he saw me, the genuine look of surprise and joy on his face was a much better greeting than I had expected. He ran across the room and squeezed me tight for a good thirty seconds. As he pulled back, I asked him why he was so excited. He looked me dead in the eye and said, “Because you heard me last night.” He then took me around the room greeting all of his friends telling them, “My mom listened last night about the book fair! I thought she didn’t even hear me, but she did!”
All of us want to be heard. Kids are no different. Extend your respect to them simply by making a little extra effort to listen when they talk to you. You will learn so much more about them and relate so much better to them if you do.
