No-one ever washed a hire-car

Think about it, if you were driving a hire car, would it be important enough to you to invest time and energy in washing and detailing it?

We put our energy into what matters most. We choose every day what we will do with the time we have. If most of our time is ‘taken’ by things we have little choice over, then our choices about what we to do with the remainder of our time become even more prioritised.

How well the school situation meets your child’s needs has a significant impact on not only their classroom achievement (and perhaps, behaviour) but also on life at home. Your child’s behaviour at home is often a good indicator of how things are at school. If your child is thriving at school and the environment recognises and meets their learning needs, then home life is likely to be smoother too. If they are battling disengagement, frustration or lack of challenge, then the ‘behaviour barometer’ probably reflects that, even if they continue to behave perfectly while at school. Home is a safe place to release tension or ‘melt down’.

You don't have to have been a parent for very long to realise that what affects a child, does not affect them in isolation. The flow on effect encompasses the whole family.

As parents we are protective of our children and rightly so, because they rely on us. If something is not right, we will do what we can to change it. If something or someone affects our children it becomes a priority to resolve it. We advocate for our children because it matters. It makes a difference to the child and so to all of the family.

And so back to the hire car. How important something is determines how much time and energy we invest in it. Speaking up for your children, however uncomfortable it might make you feel initially, is looking after your most precious possession. It matter much more than washing a hire car. The reward is not in a shining bonnet but the shining eyes of your child when they are thriving.

Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net and samuiblue

Please Feed Me

Children get cranky and they throw tantrums when they’re hungry or thirsty and don't quite realise it. If it is a hungry tummy then food and water can relieve the problem.

Our brain needs to be fed and watered just as much as our body. Our gifted children have an intellectual appetite that, if not fed, can make them just as cranky and uncomfortable as when their body is hungry.

This intellectual appetite or thirst for learning is sometimes harder to quench than feeding the body. It can be physically and emotionally exhausting for adults trying to keep a gifted child’s brain appropriately fed. The rewards are great however when the balance is right. The emotional acting out eases, their body calms down, in much the same way as when you feed a hungry child. Life is smoother.

 

Just as a healthy balance is needed for a strong body, a healthy and balanced PLATE – Powerful Learning and Teaching Environment is needed to feed the mind. At home as much as at school.

 

Photo courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net and chawalitpix