Publications
Partners
Scott Dunlop
As babies, our heads are blissfully empty, but from the minute we’re born, the learning starts: Our brains are deep pools at the bottom of a giant waterfall of information.
Matrics are busy emptying that pool (hopefully) onto their exam papers, while the rest of us, younger and older, are soaking up new learning, ready to pour it out in different contexts: For us, there’s no examiner calling out “pencils down” after a couple of hours.
Parenting is a school all on its own - our children are both our class and our teachers. By the time they’ve hit matric, we’ll have learned even more than them. We’re tested frequently, and sometimes feel that we fail. The great thing about parenting, though, is that the pool is always full, always overflowing, and we’ll never run out of new ways of improving the lives of our children, and new opportunities to do that.
Who does the testing? We do. And we get to do the marking, too. How about next time you feel like a failure, you give yourself a big smiley face sticker, instead. After all, it’s never too late to be a great parent, and positive reinforcement is as important for you as it is for your kids.
Good luck to all your matric kids, who have just started the most important exams of their life (so far).
What’s the most valuable lesson your kids have taught you? Send us an email to chatback@parent24.com and you could win a R250 kalahari.com voucher.
Matrics are busy emptying that pool (hopefully) onto their exam papers, while the rest of us, younger and older, are soaking up new learning, ready to pour it out in different contexts: For us, there’s no examiner calling out “pencils down” after a couple of hours.
Parenting is a school all on its own - our children are both our class and our teachers. By the time they’ve hit matric, we’ll have learned even more than them. We’re tested frequently, and sometimes feel that we fail. The great thing about parenting, though, is that the pool is always full, always overflowing, and we’ll never run out of new ways of improving the lives of our children, and new opportunities to do that.
Who does the testing? We do. And we get to do the marking, too. How about next time you feel like a failure, you give yourself a big smiley face sticker, instead. After all, it’s never too late to be a great parent, and positive reinforcement is as important for you as it is for your kids.
Good luck to all your matric kids, who have just started the most important exams of their life (so far).
What’s the most valuable lesson your kids have taught you? Send us an email to chatback@parent24.com and you could win a R250 kalahari.com voucher.
