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?
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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 19, 2009 at 12:18 AM

    Myrtle,
    The answer to your last question is affirmative. It was great to talk with you again the other day!
    Let's eat!
    spudsNgravy

    ReplyDelete
  2. MurfSeptember 19, 2009 at 8:24 AM

    That reminds me of college...and someone I know. Who else could watch Soaps and still score amazing results in classes. And funny that you should bring this up--as I am dealing with the stresses of school and when things have already gotten REALLY hard. help! ~c

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  3. hannahhoskingSeptember 20, 2009 at 9:58 PM

    My mom tells me the only reason why I'm not good at math is because I think it's "too hard" and I give up.

    In high school I slid through with a solid GPA, killing it in my AP/honors classes. I tried to do the same thing freshmen year... and I'm still paying for that haha.

    Being "the smart kid" in school is both a curse and a blessing. A blessing in high school, because all you have to do is show up. A curse in college because I've finally had to sit down and train myself in something I should have figured out a long time ago - how to study, how to learn.

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  4. myrtle budgeSeptember 20, 2009 at 10:15 PM

    Exactly Hannah! I was/am the same. Still working on it in fact.

    ReplyDelete
  5. sharSeptember 24, 2009 at 1:30 PM

    Would it be OK if we borrowed some of your motto for a while, miss smarty pants:)

    ReplyDelete