Monday, February 4, 2008

Kind, confident and happy

I loved this article.

It ends with this:
I'm starting to think being smart is overrated. We all know adults who are supersmart but somehow never learned the basic playground rules about how to play with others. And while it would be nice if my child turns out to be gifted, it would be even better if she turned out to be kind, confident and happy.

We live in a neighborhood where all the children are gifted. Really. All of them. (Including my own, of course.) I can't imagine the remarkable string of coincidences that occurred to make that happen. Must be something in the water here. ha.

Report cards came out on Friday and we are resisting all temptations to shout, "Look how smart you are! Look at those grades!"

We are trying hard to underemphasize the "smart" and focus instead on the "kind, confident, happy." We are trying hard to downplay the grades and emphasize the "learning" side of school.

But, being human, we call the grandparents and brag "Look how smart your granddaughter is! Look at her test scores!" (...when she can't hear us, of course.) Yes, we momentarily turn into one of "those" parents. Must be something in the water.

1 comment:

Bridgett said...

When I was pregnant with my first, I had a friend who was pregnant with her last (number 7). I wanted mine to be smart. She wanted hers to be nice. I thikn with time you learn to see the difference and why one is really more important.