Here's a great true story from my life.
When I graduated high school, I still remember our Valedictorian. She graduated with the 4.0 great point average. Now, I was a pretty good student, but when you compared her material to mine, well there was no comparison. Everything she did looked terrific - leave everyone else's work to shame.
If we were working on a poster, her poster looked like someone working on Microsoft Publisher and mine would kind of look like somebody drew it with crayons. I thought "Wow, she's got some talent!"
Later on, I found out something very interesting. Eventually, we graduated from high school and went to college. A few years later a friend told me she failed out of college because she couldn't handle the college material.
Suddenly I had a blinding flash of the obvious...
She wasn't doing her own work in high school. All those presentations, homework, projects, and poster, her parents must have helped her and that was the reason for her superb grades - in fact, the best grades in the school. But yet, when she went to college, she never developed her responsibility muscle because she never was taught by her parents to be independent.
My parents never helped me with any school work. They felt that school work was important for me to do because I was helping my future. I took this message seriously. By college, my independent work improved tremendously. I am thankful that my parents forced me towards independence.
This event made me realize the importance of teaching children responsibility. As a parent, I became to believe that the parent's true job is to raise children to become independent - and that starts by strengthening your responsibility muscle. I never forgot this story and feel as a Martial Arts instructor that one of the most important lessons to teach students is about developing responsibility.
When I graduated high school, I still remember our Valedictorian. She graduated with the 4.0 great point average. Now, I was a pretty good student, but when you compared her material to mine, well there was no comparison. Everything she did looked terrific - leave everyone else's work to shame.
If we were working on a poster, her poster looked like someone working on Microsoft Publisher and mine would kind of look like somebody drew it with crayons. I thought "Wow, she's got some talent!"
Later on, I found out something very interesting. Eventually, we graduated from high school and went to college. A few years later a friend told me she failed out of college because she couldn't handle the college material.
Suddenly I had a blinding flash of the obvious...
She wasn't doing her own work in high school. All those presentations, homework, projects, and poster, her parents must have helped her and that was the reason for her superb grades - in fact, the best grades in the school. But yet, when she went to college, she never developed her responsibility muscle because she never was taught by her parents to be independent.
My parents never helped me with any school work. They felt that school work was important for me to do because I was helping my future. I took this message seriously. By college, my independent work improved tremendously. I am thankful that my parents forced me towards independence.
This event made me realize the importance of teaching children responsibility. As a parent, I became to believe that the parent's true job is to raise children to become independent - and that starts by strengthening your responsibility muscle. I never forgot this story and feel as a Martial Arts instructor that one of the most important lessons to teach students is about developing responsibility.
Sensei Tim Rosanelli
Maximum Impact Karate
(215) 249-3532
www.maximpactkarate.com
timrosanelli.blogspot.com
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