Is Education Important?!?

Why is education important?
That is the question behind the actual words of complaint when school has the audacity to impose upon a child's time and attention.




You know the scene:




Imagine your most beloved child is before you in full complaint mode.
S/he is whining about memorizing times tables or the futility of algebra or the monotony of history.
S/he is pleading for your sympathy with that pouting face that irks you just so or is simply defiant with arms crossed or hands on hips.
The complaint will probably include, "Why do I have to…"
Part of you sympathizes but the parent voice in your head is telling you to do your job as the parent and not give in to mere sympathy.
Playing out your parent role means they have to get over it and do what needs to be done.




I challenge you to answer their actual concerns, not their stated questions.
But to do that you need to gauge the true depth of those concerns.
If you can approach their concerns rather than answer their questions, then you have the opportunity to offer both sympathy AND strategies to get over it and do what needs to be done.




The benefit of the following approach is that it does not require your child to know their real concern or it's depth.
You don't even have to know yourself, you just have to be willing to go through the process and pay close attention to how your child reacts.
If you can stay with it long enough, your child will either move on or you will be clear that you need more help. Either way you have something of value