Thoughts for Thursday

I received this email last week & I thought I'd share it. It is a wonderful article about what an affect we have on our children's lives on a daily basis. It's like that saying, "If Momma Ain't Happy, Ain't Nobody Happy". As redneck as that sounds, it's true! If I'm in a bad mood, it seems to affect everyone in my house. What a good reminder...............

Controlling the Weather

While teachers can have a lifelong effect on the way students think,
psychologist Haim Ginott has focused on a more immediate aspect of impact: the
creation of a positive or negative physical and emotional environment that can
determine the quality of a child's life.

"I've come to a frightening conclusion," he said. "I am the decisive element in
the classroom. My personal approach creates the climate. My daily mood makes the
weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life
miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. It is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or dehumanized."
Yet as profound as this observation is for professional educators, it's even
more so for parents. A parent's power to create the daily climate and lasting
environment in which a child grows is so awesome it must be used consciously and
responsibly.

Since our daily moods make the weather, we should try to shield our children
from the thunder and lightning of our frustrations and anger. Instead of the
dark clouds of cynicism, fear and depression, we should discipline our own
emotions and give them the light and warmth of love, hope and good cheer.
Conscious efforts to be positive, enthusiastic, and supportive can have a huge
impact not only on the emotional well-being of our children, but on their
ability to experience the joys and pains of childhood in healthy and
constructive ways.

Michael Josephson
www.charactercounts.org


See you tomorrow for Friday's Feature!