Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Power of Praise (9-21-11)

I need a bumper sticker that says "Proud Mama!" today.

Both boys spent the summer in a weekly class at The Little Gym and we carried over Cash's Sports class through the winter. At the end of each class one of the teachers comes out and explains what skills they worked on (this week was being a soccer goalie and using polite game playing manners). Teacher Angela is always very positive and honest. If the group had a hard time listening she shares that with us parents and we all secretly hope it wasn't our child. The same goes for the compliments and "good news." One week she shared that "some kids" made home runs and she didn't usually see that at this age, I secretly hoped one of the big hitters was Cash, mostly because he loves hitting the ball over the fence and roof at Grandma's house and I knew he would be proud of himself. Later when I would ask him about it he would nonchalantly say "Yeah, I hit a home run" like it was an everyday occurrence. But this week Teacher Angela made a special point to let me know Cash really set an example with his manners. He said "Good Job" and "Nice Try" to the other kids and encouraged them when they didn't make a goal. I was proud, I was beaming, I was secretly laughing because had Chubs been in his class this conversation would have sounded a lot different. On the way home we shared the news with Grandma who happened to call and left a note for Dad. What I really loved seeing was that just like his home run, Cash wasn't proud of himself or his teacher's comments about his behavior but rather felt that his actions and words were the way things should be, he really hadn't done anything special, he was just being himself.

 All the kiddos love this "Donut" thing at the gym. Cash's class uses it to practice throwing a football, below Ryan's class uses it to climb through.


Ryan received his own round of praise as well this week with a visit from the speech path. We took the summer off from visits through our ESD because Ryan seemed to be doing so well, but after several months of ear infections through the summer, Ryan's hearing was likely not up to par for a while. He proved that he wasn't going to be seen and not heard by the end of her visit. He was mimicking, asking for help, and following directions very well. She mentioned he was making great progress and I was so happy because what parent wants their child to struggle, especially with communication which can be so frustrating for our kids.

As I reflected over Ryan's therapist visit, and Cash's class last night I was reminded that I hadn't yet checked in with all my parents. There is now an item reading "Write Good News Notes" on my work To-Do list. It is so easy to forget when my students are doing so well to pass that on to their parents. Who doesn't like a little Good News?

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

A Lesson from my Son

I have this problem/stumbling block/, call it what you will, but whenever something I am working on does not seem to be "Good Enough" I will often find a reason to move on from said task and spend my time on something else. That happened to my blog way back in April. But, I am finding that my newly found quiet evenings have given way to some extra time and a need to "talk" or write and share the great things my boys are doing, and with no one to share these moments with in the evening until Friday night, here I go again......


Cash sat next to me yesterday with his pen in hand flipping through the pages of an alphabet book. He has about 10 of these books I picked up at Target for a buck each. Some are addition which he is very in to right now, letter writing, object discrimination, and other activities that earn him computer time. He practiced a few B's, moved on and practiced a few Y's, moved on. After a few minutes I asked him what he was looking for and he told me "I want an easy page." I knew that "easy page" really meant a page where he did not make a mistake, where his letters looked very close to the letters already lightly outlined for him as a guide. An easy page. The mom sayings kicked in "We sometimes need to practice to get better." and "Writing letters takes time to learn, look at all the letters you already know!" He didn't respond but rather kept flipping pages determined to find one that suited his needs. He eventually gave up stating that he was very tired and went to find something else to do. Later I thought about how much alike we were. I do the exact same thing, maybe not look for the easy page, but the pages where I will succeed and my letters will not go outside the lines so to speak. I just knew I might as well put those books in the recycling, he wouldn't go back to them, but I was wrong. The next day he would pick up his pen and continue on searching the pages, trying letters that yesterday may have been too hard, and picking up pride along the way in the process. He inspired me to think about things I had given up and should try again, this blog was on of them.

Speaking of writing, when I started back to work I began to leave Cash notes most mornings on this whiteboard not only to let him know his mom is thinking of him but also to hopefully inspire him to write as well. Sure enough after a few mornings I came home to find he had written me back a letter, he read it to me and while I couldn't make most of it out, I did recognize the "Mom" above my Love, Mommy, priceless.