As I was taking a couple fo the kids up the canyon tonight to go fishing I got stopped at one of those Sheriff’s Office Sobriety Checkpoints where they were stopping every car entering or leaving the canyon. That’s a first for me. I’ve read about them before, but never experienced one. I guess I can list that among my life experiences now.
Here is another gem from Laura. She came in to my office this afternoon and told me that she had just seen a bit of a speech by Senator Clinton. She thought it very important that I be aware that Hillary Clinton had just told her audience that they wanted a President who would solve their problems, take care of their families and watch out for their children. (I don’t claim that to be verbatim.)
Of course my first thought is that I would prefer a president who would enforce the laws of the land, defend the Constitution, and tell the truth to the American people. I don’t need someone to keep pushing the lies that there are painless, if complex, solutions to the problems we have been busy creating for ourselves.
Upon reflection I realized that maybe Senator Clinton is really making a good offer – free babysitting of my kids. I’ll bet she’s a lot more dependable than many a teenage babysitter. Of course by the time I finished writing this I realized that she never said she would babysit for free – or even for cheap.
Today was a work day for the kids because they have not had to do any of their regular work in the last week. Unfortunately (but unsurprisingly) we found that they seemed to have misplaced their ability to work. They spent 3 hours on a room that should have been done in 30 minutes. Savannah and Alyssa finally perked up and started working like they’re capable when I challenged them to a race. The race was to see if they could finish the family room they had been working on for nearly 3 hours before I could empty the sink and load the dishwasher.
It really should have been no competition but I managed to nearly finish by the time they passed their quality check. The really nice thing was that I didn’t have to remind them to get back to work. Even when they started dawdling a bit they kept working because I didn’t tell them at the beginning that there was basically no way I could win.
Even after the race was over they kept working on the other tasks that still had to be done. It’s nice to find some effective motivation – I hope I can use that technique in the future.
I thought about the value of wandering as one of our neighbors walked past our house this afternoon. He was just out for a walk with his daughter and their dog. There are many possible reasons that might have prompted the walk, but arriving at a specific destination or in a specific time was obviously not a major concern.
I was reminded of similar walks that our family has taken over the years – like our first Christmas soon after we moved into this house when the girls wanted to go for a walk and we met a bunch of our neighbors for the first time after their Christmas mornings. There is so much that we can gain from having times when you do not have a specific goal to strive for and you are free to follow a whim or prompting that you could not plan in advance.
For the first time in years I got to sit through an entire general session of conference with almost no interruption. It was exciting to actually be able to listen to each speaker rather than simply catching bits and pieces (up to a whole talk) while answering the needs of the kids. Isaac was sleeping and the girls pretty well took care of themselves with games (and a movie I think).
I also found the perfect way to take notes. I got the new embedded video stream on lds.org (we don’t have cable or reception of KSL on our TV) and shrunk the window down so that all I could see was the video. Then I opened a second window and sized it to fill the rest of the screen so I could take notes on my General Conference wiki (I love being able to link between talks and look up a list of every talk I have notes on by speaker, session, or year) on one side of the screen while watching the speaker on the other side of the screen. no more wondering for days if I spelled a speaker’s name wrong in my notes.
While I enjoyed the technical aspects of being able to take notes and listen more effectively, the best part was all the thoughts of how to do better. There were thoughts of comfort, and thoughts of prodding. I succeeded in my goal after last conference to review all the talks. Hopefully I can do even better than that in the next six months.
I couldn’t pass up the insights of Jim Harper in his post Learned Helplessness
On several occasions recently, I have noted able-bodied Senate staff taking advantage of this convenience. Though they could open the doors themselves and enter more quickly, they press the button and pause a moment as the doors slowly open.
There is a lesson here for policymakers (including those Senate staff): Offered help, people of all abilities will accept it, whether they need it or not. Over time, their abilities to help themselves may atrophy.
I have often watched this same process with my children – they take time to look for the blue button before they enter a door in many buildings. For them there is the novelty of having the door do its own work and also that fact that some of those doors are too heavy for them at their young ages. Still, if I’m going to spend my time at a door I would much prefer that I did so holding the door open for other people to help more people get through the entrance than standing there – holding up the flow of traffic – waiting for the door to open itself. In fact, many times when my kids push the button I open the door for them so they don’t have to wait for those motors. That motor is to help people who need the help when able-bodied people (such as myself) are not around to offer more personalized assistance.
I was telling Laura about this and she said I should share the story.
We love playing hide and seek as a family. The kids get into it and Isaac and Mariah level the playing field by staying with Laura and I so we can’t just hide alone where the kids will never find us. We were having a game (I can’t remember if it was Monday or Tuesday last week) and on the last round Alyssa was the seeker. I had Isaac with me and Savannah was staying pretty close as well. When Alyssa came looking I was in our bedroom with nothing but Isaac to hide behind – I thought I would be seen for sure. Luckily Alyssa never looked towards us because she was focused on trying to get the bathroom door opened with Savannah holding it closed.
After she left the room Isaac got distracted with something else (probably chasing Alyssa – I can’t remember) and I hopped over the bed and laid down on the floor behind the bed. A few minutes later after Alyssa had found Mariah and Savannah had admitted to being found Savannah was looking for me and Laura (those who are found generally try to help the seeker – or at least they try to locate the rest of us). I heard Savannah come into our room thinking I was under the bed (it’s hollow under the bed and the bed skirt goes to the floor). When I was not under the bed she crawled right on through and out the far side where I was. She saw me and giggled.
Less than ten seconds later Isaac popped out from under the bed where he had followed Savannah. He then proceeded to follow Savannah as she left the room – proud to have found me. About 30 seconds after that I heard Alyssa come into the room and crawl the exact same path as the other two. Having finally been found by the seeker I just had to laugh at the sight of three of the kids crawling out like ghosts from under the bed right next to my head.
In January I wrote my personal feelings about the value of all-day kindergarten. Today I learned a few things I didn’t know before. As a fan of irony I knew I would enjoy this when I read the opening:
All-day kindergarten sounds like a great opportunity. The teacher really gets to know your child, and how to help them learn. Your child gets enough hours in a learning environment to really absorb important skills. And, after all, kids are a lot smarter these days, so they are ready to get on with ‘real’ learning at a younger age.
Other good aspects of all-day kindergarten programs are not having to pay day-care costs for another year, and your little tired 5-year-old can just have his 1 p.m. melt-down at school, not at home. There are only 28 students in the class, so your kid will have plenty of attention. And don’t worry, the school will take care of teaching your child everything they need to know — you don’t have to worry about a thing.
The short takeaway list that should make you cautious of all-day kindergarten is this:
I should not take much observation to conclude that “most 5- to 6-year olds are not ready for a six to seven-and-a-half hour school day.” I think that those who push for all-day kindergarten are well-intentioned but I am confident that we would not want the social blow back that it is bound to bring. I think Ms. Herron got her conclusion just right:
In Utah, even kindergarten is optional — and with good reason. We shouldn’t push very young children to be in school all day at the expense of the family and playtime that makes childhood special.
My mom was visiting this afternoon as Savannah was performing in a dance recital. Before we left for the recital Mom asked how soon before Isaac would start walking. He was holding on to the leg of my pants at the time and I said, “anytime he wants.” Moments later he let go of my pants and I took a step away from him to show how steady he was without support. After standing for a few seconds he took a step toward some toys that had his attention. He paused briefly before taking three more steps. Then he decided to use his more familiar form of locomotion and he crawled the second half of the distance.
Mom and I were both amazed at the accuracy of my statement.
I have been thinking a lot today about what I am trying to teach my children, and what I would like to teach the young men I work with in scouts. It stems from what I continue to strive for myself, and that is blossoming to full potential. My thoughts led me back to one of my favorite books, Season of Life which introduced me to a program called Building Men & Women for Others that is focused on the same thing I was thinking of.
As I was reading Season of Life today there is a part with a discussion of the Parable of the Talents. This reminded me of a session from BYU Education Week this year that I attended which was all about that same parable. The conclusion in the Season of Life discussion was in the words of Francis “Biff” Poggi:
If a guy has ten [talents] and brings ten every day, that’s pretty good. If you have two and you bring two every day, that’s just as good. (Season of Life pp.52)
The conclusion I took from education week was “The parable of the talents is not about increase, but about effort.” I think it instructive that two very different sources came to exactly the same conclusion. One lesson that I hope to pass on to every young person I might ever influence is that the key to reaching your full potential and being correspondingly happy is to give 100% of your abilities.