Passion Power

Support your frontline. That’s just good business. I hope the 76 school boards in Ontario figure out soon that it’s the schools that need the money and resources not the obscene amount of administrative office buildings full of staff that never see a kid’s face in a day. School boards have taken all the fun out of teaching. Enough of the online tools! Enough of the forms. Forget the make work projects, new rules and protocols. Make forms easier--not harder and supplies a cinch to get. Encourage fields trips and special activities and squash the 28-page document that needs to be filled out before they can go. We send our kids to school trusting that they will learn, have fun and be safe. Unfortunately, now a days every school has a drawer full of pills. Where’s the nurse? Every school has delinquent kids, where’s the security guards? Every school is filled with anxious and depressed kids, where’s the counsellor? Every school has neglected children, where’s the social wor...

I was raised in a household in seventies where nurturing a child’s self-esteem would be considered laughable.   I remember hearing, “good kids should be seen and not heard” and my Father would get a few laughs saying that “the joys of raising kids are grossly exaggerated.” I know that my Father loved me, but I did feel small and insignificant. Parents don’t purposely try to lower their child’s self-esteem.   It happens by accident.   We must remember our own baggage and not be a bully or worse, overcompensate by treating them like a victim.   There’s no power in being a victim. I remember notes being passed around in class. Am I The Only One?     Hats were getting rip off people’s heads, people were being followed home from school and tripped.   It’s not much different now but kids have lost their ability to cope. Social media has amplified this, and many can’t deal with the stress of not being accepted or good enough.   To make matters...

Am I the Only One? I received an email from my daughter’s Math Teacher. She was using her cell phone in class and struggling in Math. It had been going on for weeks. I appreciated the heads up. I replied, “Did you ask her to leave her phone in her locker?” I thought to myself, isn’t that what lockers are for? Why don’t we tear them all out if you can’t leave valuables in them? I question the effectiveness of a Teacher that can’t take away a cell phone from a student in class. She replied, “I don’t mind if they use their phones while doing their work.” Although I’m sure sticking ear buds in, texting and doing math problems works okay for the really bright kids, my daughter needs to pay attention in Math. Most teachers and administration have agreed that cell phones are a huge distraction. It sounds like a slippery slope and shouldn’t surprise anyone when engagement goes out the window. What I’ve learned from raising three kids is give them an inch and they’ll take ...