I’m
always curious to read books about parenting… for obvious reasons.
And
I do love a good bargain.
So,
when I was shopping at Mardel’s a few months ago, I found a book on the
clearance shelf by someone I’d never heard of, Joe McGee. And I bought it. It’s
called 8 Things No Kid Should Leave Home
Without.
Having
kids who are growing up too fast, I was intrigued by what this book would tell
me. And let me say that it didn’t disappoint.
The
blurb about Joe McGee on the back cover told of his expertise in parenting, as
he has 6 children of his own, is a former school administrator, and has been
married to the same woman for 36 years. He’s got the authority I’m looking for.
These
are common sense things for parents who want to equip their children for adult
life. As a mom, I have tried to instill these things in my kids… all except
one. One of the 8 things is (drum roll please) “A Love of Math.”
What?
I
mean, come on! Some people are good with math, and some aren’t. While I won’t
say that I’m a math genius, because that would be a big lie, I do enjoy math. I’ll
admit that I like balancing a checkbook, coming up with a budget (though it
doesn’t usually work completely), and figuring (and announcing) the total
amount of a grocery shopping trip before the register computes it.
I
am usually within one dollar.
I
don’t say that to brag on my abilities, but it’s something I’m good at. I, however,
am not great with Algebra or figuring out story problems.
The
good thing is I have kids (several of them) who are acing their math classes. In
fact, Jonah has a 92 in Pre-Calculus. That is seriously a miracle because he
comes from a mom who loves reading and writing and a dad who is a theatre
teacher. We usually laugh when talking about our math abilities.
Isn’t
that awesome, though?
Joe
gives some good reasons why we should instill a love of math, and I wish I
would have thought about it 18 years ago. There’s no time like the present!
I’m
not going to give the contents of the book away, but I would strongly suggest
reading it and maybe putting some of these suggestions into practice.
The
time with our kids goes so fast, and I can’t believe mine are almost grown.
I
hope they look back at us, their mom and dad, and see that we did the best we
could as parents. We may not have a lot of money or material things that some
people see as important. But we are grateful for the blessings God has given
us, and I want to be able to say that I lived my life with an attitude of
thankfulness.
Teaching
our kids how to be productive and responsible members of society is our
responsibility.
Putting
those things into practice is up to them.
No comments:
Post a Comment