The more undisciplined the kids are ... the better the training.
I think back on my teaching days often, now that I manage adult children. Today, for example, I had to discipline one unruly "child", lectured another on appropriate behavior, reminded another how to play well with others ... and one was so bad that I was tempted to bring in her parents.
We never really grow up, do we? We act up ... we suck up ... we still throw up ... but grow up? Naw. We'll never grow up ... you know ... Tinker Bell sure had LOTS of patience with Peter Pan.
What a day! I wanted to rush out to the bookstore to see if there were any copies of "All I really Need to Know I Learned In Kindergarten" ... the book by Robert Fulghum. It was brilliant ... and SO true.
Here are his guiding principles:
1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don't hit people.
4. Put things back where you found them.
5. Clean up your own mess.
6. Don't take things that aren't yours.
7. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
8. Wash your hands before you eat.
9. Flush.
10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
11. Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
12. Take a nap every afternoon.
13. When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
15. Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation.
5 comments:
Mr. Momberg? (raising my hand). Am I really well trained or do I need to go back to school in the morning?
Seriously heart breaking blog with a touch of whimsy we all need. Just read Erma Bombecks "wet oatmeal kisses" this afternoon which was also bittersweet and heartbreaking. When is drink night?
I always remind my children to think about what they have learned in Kindergarten. It is the most basic and yet valuable lessons.
I just have to chuckle at your avatar all the time.
as kids we're told to "take that our your mouth"
as adults we're told to "put it in your mouth"
At my job I have to sit in a lot of meetings and your observation that we never really grow up in apparent there. Thanks for reminding us of Fulghum's list!
Hey, was I one of those people on your list!!! If not, I will try harder to get on the next one :-) I have six kids and a husband that I am still raising so, I totally understand. I also suffer from mental tantrums where I enact some really snarky ways of discipling people who annoy me:-)
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