My thoughts on Sam

For the past few weeks I have worried so much about my oldest boy Sam. As the beginning of school approached this year, I found myself feeling more and more anxious about how he would fit into a structured school setting. To say he is a busy boy would be an understatement.

Take this past week for example. Last Friday after his first full week of school, I asked his Teacher how he`d done that week, genuinely expecting a positive report. Her response was kind and hesitant as she told me of some of his...um antics of the week. Like the time he went the entire morning acting like a monkey all because I'd sent a banana in his lunch!

My heart sank. As parents, it is natural for us to want our kids to go out into the world and you know, share their toys, sit still, and become successful in their own little realms right? And when they don`t behave quite up to par, it is difficult to not take it a little bit personally and wonder just where exactly things went wrong. Perhaps he really was dropped as a child?

In all honestly though, Sam is not a bad boy. Rather, he is a silly boy. He is a very silly boy who loves attention and enjoys, more then anything else, to have others laugh at him. And I don't know about you, but I`ve never met a show off who could stay quiet for long! Sometimes I worry that because he is soo silly, that he will not be taken seriously, by teachers, by classmates, ...or even by HIMSELF. Even worse then that, sometimes I worry that I will never really see the potential that is in him. Yet, other times I find myself wishing that I could just suppress his energetic side a little. Not indefinately, just between the hours of 8-3 when all that he says and does has the potential to reflect on me as a parent.


This past weekend, I spent a lot of time (and I mean a LOT) talking to Sam about manners, and trying to define with him boundaries and expectations for him while he is at school. I was THRILLED today when his teacher pulled me aside and told me that Sam was like a different boy today. So "calm and subdued". She said that she almost wondered if I had medicated him - he was that different. I don't know, perhaps I should be more open to the whole medication route, but I'm just not. In reality, I simply bribed him with a dollar store toy on Saturday if he can manage to be good every.single.day.this.week.


A tall order perhaps. But one I think he is capable of.

I feel in a way as though I am trying to retrain him, and I find myself hoping that he can blend in with the rest of the kids. Be a little less goofy. A little less....Sam.

Which brings me to this great TED talk that John and I love listening to. Sir Ken Robinson speaks about the need for a Learning Revolution. One in which we stop placing kids somewhere along a linear method of teaching and measuring and instead see them for who they are and can one day become. We do our kids a great disservice by trying to train them to be models of what we think the world needs. It has motivated John, as a teacher, to teach in a way that encourages his students to find their passions. It motivates me to look at Sam with more acceptance and tolerance.

Because let`s face it, Sam may always be that kid who acts silly just for laughs. He may always beat to the sound of a different drum, so to speak. I may spend countless more hours teaching him about the importance of manners and proper etiquette. Heck- I may very well spend the next 12 years making ``Good behaviour Charts`` and bribing him with dollar store rewards.


I have to be ok with that. More then that - I have to love him for it. Because who knows- with all that energy - he might just be the one who someday solves world hunger!

And then wouldn't I be so proud!!!






Enjoy this TED talk. Very Funny, and worth the 20 minutes!