The Great Orator

As many of you have heard before my son, C, is in the second grade. He is a great kid. He is kind, a good friend to many other boys and great soccer player. Geez, I’m mom-gushing! Anyway, at school he is taking a public speaking class. He is a shy boy in many ways, so this class has been awesome for him. (I remember him crying at the pre-school circle time, when his teacher asked his name.) He now has no problem speaking in front of his peers and he is quite the orator! He’s done speeches on his favorite family tradition, his hero and his favorite toy – stuff he can talk hours about.

This week’s speech is on his “greatest accomplishment”. As his mom and #1 fan, I can name a million, like the time he stood up for his best friend, when other kids were being mean or the time he got moved up a grade because he was such a good reader or the time he scored his first soccer goal….of course, I could go on and on. But in preparing for this particular speech, he, of course, could not think of one thing that he was most proud of.

Maybe I am just over analyzing this, but a ton of “experts” say that some of the most important things we can teach our kids are “self-worth and thinking critically”. What does this really look like? Having your child be able to discern how great he is- Without the benefit of looking through mom’s “rose-colored” glasses? How do we instill a sense of positive identity in second graders? I used to work at this great non-profit that talked a lot about positive child development. http://www.projectcornerstone.org/html/assets/index.htm I led parent groups and workshops about this exact topic, but it is always different when they are YOUR kids, right? Well no it isn’t but, it is different when the issue confronts you at home at the kitchen table. I guess you take the knowledge you’ve learned and put on your best mommy hat and then do your best.

C is set to talk about his greatest accomplishment this Friday. He threw ALL my great ideas aside and decided that his greatest accomplishment was winning a board game a few weeks ago. Our family played a game, boys against girls, and my husband and C won! (Easy considering, my partner is 3 year old!:) Just kidding.) Despite all my worries, I’m proud that he chose something that was a family tradition and that he found joy in something I had already even forgotten about. What a great reminder that it IS those small things and the random moments that mean the world to our children!