Cantral Elementary
Pre-school parents Feb 11, 1999
Bummy…
Always good to talk with parents. I’ve spoken to clergy, to politicians, to Caterpillar employees and management in the middle of their strike… Nothing is as important as talking to parents… Just a few words to help you do your job.. the most important job in the world…raising children. I do not exaggerate.. the most important job in the world. This is a teacher talking. I know how vital your job is.
I want to talk to you … not so much on how to raise kids… but on how to prepare yourself to raise kids… How to take the unnecessary stress off yourself.
I only make one assumption about you folks tonight. I am assuming that you want to be the best possible parent.
- DON’T REHASH THE NEGATIVE
Our teacher’s lounge For once, don’t get if off your chest Teacher I know..kids drive her crazy.. ..meet her in IGA...guess what she talks about...
Corrie Ten Boom “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorry, It empties today of its strength.” Every morning I do calisthenics... Life is too precious to remind ourselves of what’s gone wrong.
Correct your children but do it as if you have no memory at all. Make it a game. They often act as if they have no memory, so you do the same. The memories of your children are blessedly short. They forgive and forget faster than we do. Let them…and let yourself. Don’t relive the negatives of the past. For your own sake.
- If you want to be a Power Parent: Realize that no matter what factors determine your day, you are the Main Factor.. Please don’t let the moods of your children drastically change yours. Remember: you’re the adult in this situation. Mom: Alcatraz …… sail boats
If life’s bumming you out, chances are you aren’t giving enough of yourself. The best Parents give and give and give. Even when they don’t have time. Even when they’re too tired.
This is the opposite of what the self-help books preach.
Self-centeredness : depression. Becky...funeral... Carl Menninger
A. Sweitzer: “The only ones among you who will be truly happy as those who will have sought and found out how to serve.”
Power Parents are interested in not things, just people. Your youngsters live in a world where things are all that matters. Fight it, fight it, fight it.
Two nephews: First was the wonder child. Polite, smart, agreeable. Parents: “We’re obviously perfect parents.” Then the second child… which we called, God! Where’d he come from? First child… sensitive, cared about people, loved to read. Second: born with a television permanently attached to his frontal lobe. All he seemed to care about was acquiring things and having more than his friends.
Remember: Bible says “Raise a child up in the way they should go and WHEN THEY GROW OLD they will not depart from it. Even the Bible carefully omits adolescence.
Marie...salt and pepper shakers. Be less concerned with what your children have and more concerned with who they know. Their friends. Their relationships with the rest of their family.
Tony Compello “Five years from now you’ll be pretty much the same as you are now except for two things: The books you’ve read and the people you’ve met.
As your student gets older, he or she will make two vital decisions: their friends… you show me their friends, and I’ll predict their test scores. show me their friends and I’ll predict their chances of succeeding in life. Don’t let friendships just Happen. 2) Whether things or people will be of utmost importance. THEY ARE WATCHING YOU FOR THIS ONE.
My Dad: whipped me. 15 cent Coke versus 10 cent, then gave $1,000.
Raise your children make people number one.
Which leads directly to #5. 5) Power Parents Don’t get so busy with the important things in your life that they forget the important things in life. James Dobson..monopoly Dad...hay ...rain....
- Power Parents teach their children to Choose carefully whom they try to please. Quest...Inner-Outer Self
HINEY THE MULE
7)Power Parents know they can only be a good parent when they’re rested and have a sense of humor. Know How to Lighten up.... Jim Kern...MRS. BROWN
LIGHTEN UP.... ....go barefoot more often ....turn off the TV some night and pull taffy. ...eat nothing but ice cream for a whole day. ...wear underwear backwards...will break into uncontrollable giggles for no reason every time you think about it. ....walk up to biggest grouch you know and say “I just want you to know that I feel great!” It’ll throw them off all day. ...do some serious coloring ....get the preacher to serve pizza at the next communion. ...start living to succeed instead of living in fear of failing... ...break the dress code occasionally.
.....McDonnald’s “Have a nice Day” Why?
3 things in life are real...WHEN YOU’RE BORN, WHEN YOU DIE WHEN YOU REACH OUT TO HELP ANOTHER in everything else...LIGHTEN UP.
Which leads directly to #8. 8) Power Parents Don’t take themselves too seriously.. because chances are, no one else does.
Chillochothe...”probably dead”
Church lady...music at her funeral.
Travel LIghter...Your anxieties? Look in your purse or pocket or billfold...ME: comb.
Roger Ebert.
- Start living in the present.
The first step toward loving your life is The ability to live in the present. Some of you during my speech have been thinking about how long...., tomorrow, this weekend. When you drive home this evening with your spouse or your kids, enjoy the moment you’re in. Enjoy being where you are right here and right now. New Salem.. “Tell Me Why”
- Power Parents don’t just talk about faith. They use it. They increase it. They spread it around. Make this deal with yourself. For every minute you spend worrying about your kids, spend a minute praying my them. If your an atheist, go find a Christian lady living by herself and hire her to pray for your kids. Even if you don’t believe, what’s it gonna hurt? We spend our life investing... Today’s paper... girl: Miss Illinois pageant... I know: Mom and Dad: $7,000 each to get as far as Springfield.
No one in Sangamon County tonight has a job as important as yours. No one in the United States has a job of more importance than the parents.
Small taste of what you’re in for.. David and Ryan…
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