04/25/12

New maple seeds and flowers....

 

Here is an article from the newspaper that I read the other day.  I thought it was quite good!  It is on Parenting and written by John Rosemond.  Not my words but I agree with it wholeheartedly!  :)

"Is your kid truly terrific?  Take this quiz

If the frequency of my own sightings is any indication, those "My Child is a Terrific Kid!" bumper stickers are becoming ubiquitous.  I did some investigating and discovered that Terrific Kids is a school-based character-building program sponsored by Kiwanis.

According to the website at www.kiwaniskids.org, children  work with their classroom teachers to establish goals to improve behavior, peer relationships, attendance or school work.  When those goals are met, the kids get TK pins, a pizza party, certificates and their parents get the bumper sticker.

The teachers I spoke with told me nearly every child ends up a TK.  So it would seem the TK awards are relatively meaningless, however well-intentioned.

I've developed a 15-item inventory - the Rosemond Truly Terrific Kid Scale - that will tell parents whether their child is truly terrific.

Any given child begins with 15 points.  One point is deducted for every item that is not almost always true.  Any child who ends up with a 14 or 15 points is a Truly Terrific Kid.  A score of 11 to 13 means the child is sorta, kinda terrific; 9 or 10 points reflects less than terrific; and 8 or below is not terrific (in need of lots of work).  Each item begins with "The child.....

1.  Eats whatever foods he is served without complaint.

2.  Does his homework without being told, does at least 90 percent without asking for help and does his best in school.

3.  Looks an adult in the face when spoken to and responds appropriately.

4.  Asks for something by saying "please."

5.  Receives something by saying "thank you."

6.  Declines something by saying "no, thank you."

7.  Addresses adults as Mr., Miss or Mrs. as opposed to using their first names.

8.  Obeys classroom and playground rules at all times.

9.  Neither creates nor participates in conflicts with or between peers.

10.  Knows not to enter an elevator until everyone who so desires has exited.

11.  Does not use a cellphone for talking or texting in social situations.

12.  Goes to bed in his own bed without complaint and goes quickly to sleep.

13.  Does not often create or participate in sibling conflict.

14.  Accepts responsibility when confronted with misdeeds.

15.  Does not interrupt adult conversations, including phone conversations.

It should be obvious that my scale reflects as much on parents as it does on a child.  If you/your child did well, you certainly deserve a bumper sticker, but you'll have to take care of that yourself."

~John Rosemond

www.rosemond.com