I am writing this message minutes after the Toronto Blue Jays won game 5, and as a result, are advancing to the American League Championship Series! I am going to be honest…I do not watch baseball nor am I frequent viewer of sports. Yet the last week, I have found myself watching the games while covering my eyes, clenching my teeth and yelling out hollers of excitement (who didn’t holler with Jose Bautista’s home run?). Why did I catch the Jays fever? It goes beyond begin a Torontonian. The last three games had the Jays showing determination, perseverance and self regulation. These are character traits that we want to instil in children as educators and as parents. This is what drew me to the television, to watch the Jays remind all of us the importance of these traits not only in school, but in life. Beyond continuing to watch the Jays as they advance on, how can school and home support your child with these traits? Here are three (of many) ways…
- When a child faces a challenge at school, whether it is academic or social, as educators we try to assist them with communicating and advocating for themselves. Talking through the challenge without taking away your child’s voice is important to building their resilience and confidence. If as adults we solve the challenge without the child, we haven’t helped. If your child expresses a concern at home please encourage them to speak to their teacher first and follow up with your child about the conversation. If they need your help, of course be there to help but please don’t take their voice.
- Homework is not parent work. If your child has homework, encourage them to ‘own’ it. As educators, we will not expect that your evenings and weekends are spent managing homework. If you are asked to sign your child’s agenda, we do not expect that you will look at every piece of work. It is your child’s responsibility, not yours…please don’t make it yours. If they fail an assignment, a quiz or a test they are learning that we make mistakes in life and it is what we do as a result that matters. Help them to make a plan moving forward to improve, it needs to be their plan, not yours. Be thankful that they are learning these important lessons in elementary school and not in university or in the workforce.
- Encourage your children to take risks and applaud their efforts to do so, regardless of the end result (obviously reasonable risks). It is hard to develop grit, resilience and self regulation in safe and predictable environments. As adults, we often don’t get to try new things in the same way that our children do. We sometimes forget that it doesn’t always feel good when you are learning something new, you don’t feel very confident and as a result want to quit (I can attest as I learned to downhill ski at age 40). Encouraging children to persevere when faced with a challenge, to follow through with a commitment and to welcome new opportunities are important lessons that we want to message at school and at home.
Let’s hope that the Jays continue to provide us with examples of these traits in action in the games ahead. Go Jays Go!
Terry Fox
Thank you to Allenby students and families for their donations to our annual Terry Fox Run. We raised just under $1000 which will go towards the Terry Fox Foundation to support cancer research.
Tracey O’Toole
Principal