Friday, September 18, 2009

Smart Kids

Yeah, yeah, I know, I have smart kids. I hear it from people all the time.

Whatever.

I know its not a bad thing, but there are a few drawbacks. Mainly, that they never really have to work hard at stuff.

I was the same way as a kid. I just coasted through everything I did. It was all easy.

My dad's way of putting it was "you're not really reaching your full potential".

He was right.

Kids who have to work at school to really learn and understand are usually better off as they get older because they are used to doing hard things.

Kids who are constantly told that they are smart shy away from things that are hard because they think it should be easy because they're smart.

I see my kids doing this. Whenever something comes around that is hard for them, they freak out. They want to quit. (Luckily, we have our motto)

I try to explain to them that its good if something is hard, because then you're increasing your brain muscle. If everything is alway easy then your brain never grows.

We are working on this at home now. I hear myself using this statement a lot more: We do hard stuff.

I like saying that. It makes me feel good and reminds me not to get discouraged when life seems hard.

I'm so smart aren't I?