Littlemummy.Com

You may think these terms are only suitable for the workplace, but think about it for a moment.

If our home is our business, and we are the Managing Director, we either choose to micro-manage or delegate every day.

Micro-Managing

The micro-manager finds it difficult to relinquish control. When they occasionally delegate tasks they do so one by one, with specific instructions and will check back regularly to make sure the task is being performed to their high standards - if not, they may choose to do the task themselves, all-the-while muttering martyr-esque comments….

The pros of being a micro-manager

The job gets done exactly how you want it to get done.

The cons of being a micro-manager

Stress - It takes time to issue tasks one by one and check up regularly

Your kids/partner will feel that they can’t be trusted just to do the job.

You may end up with a complete boycott until you lower your exacting standards!!

Complete Delegation

The complete delgator will delegate tasks to the most appropriate person once, with instructions, and will leave that person to fulfill the task the way they see fit.

The pros of being a complete delegator

Each task needs only be delegated once, thus saving time.

Less stress, as you relax your standards and know that everything will get done, and you don’t have to do it all.

Your family will be more eager to help when they can do it on their own terms.

The cons of being a complete delegator

Tasks may not be completed the way you would do it.

Are you a micro-manger or a complete delegator?

(I’m an ex micro-manager seeing the light and advantages of being a complete delegator!)

My opinions here were aroused by this news article on plans to keep a register of holidays taken within term-time.

I can’t stress enough how wrong I think this is.

For a start, the law states that a child must be provided with a suitable and age appropriate education. It does NOT state that a child must attend school, full, part or otherwise, that is why parents have free choice to homeschool, should they wish. This in mind, it begs the question, why do schools (and the government) have the right to prevent term-time holidaying? (and keep registers thereof)

If it’s a parent’s choice how and where to educate their child it is also a parent’s right to take them out of school if they can prove that they are providing alternative education. Wouldn’t you agree that a holiday particularly of a cultural nature is a rich learning experience for any child? It could be argued (and I would) that even the beachiest holiday can incorporate educational excursions to historic buildings, museums etc..

Our education system is all or nothing in it’s current form. Either you take full responsibility as a parent and homeschool or you are forced to hand over all responsibility to the state system.

Here’s a thought.

What about an ‘Education Partnership’ a system where teachers, pupils and parents work together. Pupils should have a larger say in the curriculum - child led learning could be practised quite easily if we weren’t so obsessed with examining our children, what if our ‘teachers’ were more akin to learning facilitators, flexible and prepared to facilitate the learning of any subject regardless of curriculum. This would have four major advantages as I see it.

1. Children will be far more engaged when they have a say in what they learn.

2. Teachers will not become stale, teaching the same curriculum over and over again. They aren’t teaching kids about the world and skills anymore, they are training them to pass exams.

3. We will end up with a hugely diverse set of future workers who will have a much larger variety of skills, strengths and interests.

4. We wouldn’t have to worry about term-time holidaying, because the kids wouldn’t be ‘missing’ anything. What they are ‘missing’ at the moment is the vital bits of information required to pass exams. A looser curriculum and a vastly reduced exam calendar and the problem is solved. Holidaying would be seen as a major advantage to their education, think, the possibility of experiencing different cultures, practising foreign languages and customs, the opportunities are endless and far beyond what can be offered in the confines of the classroom.

Parents need to be involved and take more responsibility to assist in the education process by visiting museums, galleries, and other appropriate activities that tie in with the current learning in school. Some parents will argue they don’t have time, to them I would say, if you don’t have time, don’t have kids, you just can’t do them justice. Harsh, I know.

Why can’t we encourage term time holidaying? Why can’t we incorporate that into the classroom. Jonathan visited Africa? Great, let him do a show and tell, let us share what he has learned. Let us open our minds to the possibilities, instead of building systems that hinder everyone.

The education system is our education system, we pay for it and it’s our kids it is serving. If we want to change it, we can.

Thoughts welcome…

Photo by flickr user Robem

We’re hearing it all the time in the media, banning schools sports days, discouraging competition, and here Craig tells of a television programme exploring the concept of not being graded at school.

My thoughts today - when did competition become the evil enemy?

I must admit I am quite competitive, I like to compete, and, yes I like to win (my husband has likened me to Monica in the Friends episode where she plays table tennis!). If I lose I feel a strong force inside me to improve and do better. I think this is a good thing, it means that I am constantly striving to do better, whether it’s winning a promotion or winning at Monopoly (Alex I WILL win next time).

When I was younger, my brother and I would always compete, board games, obstacle courses, quizzes. It was fun, sometimes he would win, sometimes I would win. There were a few occasions where neither of us would win. We used to like drawing or painting pictures, we would spend a long time carefully colouring in, or drawing the perfect house only for our judge (mum) to announce a draw Were we satisfied? No, we felt robbed, we would beg her to choose someone, but like most parents they don’t like to choose between their kids. The moral of the story here is that kids like competition, without it they don’t know where they are, if you don’t know how good you are how will you have the motivation to improve?

As parents are we providing too much of a ‘cushy’ existence as Craig says. In my opinion yes we are. We never want to upset our kids, we are reluctant to show any disappointment in case we knock their fragile self esteems. The truth is that kids aren’t that fragile they are pretty robust and receiving a fair and honest assesment of their achievements and failures (there I said it) is what they deserve and respect.

It’s like the idea that if you never have anything bad happen how will you be appreciative or even recognise when things are good? I want Erin to know in her heart that when I praise something I mean it, and, when my reaction is a bit less enthusiastic I hope that she will strive to do better.

Of course you have to tailor your reactions to each child, a ‘B’ grade might be a real achievement for one kid, or a bit of an underachievement for another. I don’t expect perfection, each parent knows their own kids and their strengths and weaknesses and should praise accordingly.

What do you think about competition for kids? Do you encourage it?

Photo by flickr user DrMoores

Phat Mommy needs tips on planning a trip to Disney.

A blogger I respect a lot has written an article with a title very similar to that above. Sticking to my rule of ‘more than three lines and it warrants a blog post rather than a comment’ here goes.

Is internet access necessary in schools?

Yes it is.

We are living in a society that is dependant on computers. Practically every company out there has a website, most homes are linked to the internet, and kids need to be able to use computers and the internet efficiently if they are to succeed. Scientists use computers to analyse lab results, retailers use the internet to sell their wares and computer programs for stock taking, accountants, teachers, and police staff all require computer skills. At some time or another each will require the internet, to do research, to purchase something, to acquire contact details.

I don’t think it does take a lot of skill to use a mouse or type something into google, therefore, I don’t think it needs to be taught as a subject in itself but it should be available in all classrooms for research purposes and to help with projects. Textbook learning is fine but it does get dull. To fully engage pupils you need to be more creative and utilise all medias along with arts, crafts, quizzes and as many other ways you can think of to really bring the subjects alive, especially at primary school, where a love of learning needs to be nurtured and is perhaps more important than the learning itself.

And whilst I’m on my soap box I think ‘Wall Ball‘ is a perfectly acceptable yard game too

The subject of kids’ handwriting is a hot topic at the moment. Whitney Hoffman has a great article and accompanying podcast (no ipod required!)

Pocket Money: Join the conversation

My post on christmas shopping is over at GNMParents - head over and add your two pennith..

I read a post today. I was going to leave a comment. As I wrote, I realised that my comment was running for longer than three lines. I read somewhere, that if a comment runs longer than three lines you should do an article on you own blog and link-up.

Here’s the article…

and a choice paragraph

During the eight years my children have attended this fine school I’ve watched one thing after another on the playground become “off limits”: the group of twelve trees constituting “the woods” (evidently trees are a silent killer), the open field if there is a trace of mud (in Alaska, a weekly occurrence), the hill if there’s any ice (ditto previous comment), the fence around the perimeter (because fences shouldn’t be touched on general principle) and if there’s even a trace of rain the whole thing is gone–it’s indoor recess.

It made me consider my own childhood…..

Bike rides that started at dawn and ended at dusk - that was the time you had to go in…no watches, mobiles, just when it got dark. Now this was a little open to interpretation - but basically if the cars had their lights on, or if you could barely see the football (or each other) during a game, then it was time to go in.

Lunch was a folded piece of bread with anything from the fridge that you could make in under a minute and take with you.

Weirdos? Yes there were weirdos - aren’t there in every neighborhood? We used to chap their door and run away to get a chase….

We’d go on adventures. Accidents happened but we are still alive to tell the tale. I came off pretty unscathed, my brother on the other hand, burnt his arm in a fire incident, split his head during a stone incident, and very nearly fell into a river - but he’s still alive - in fact he’s in the army nowadays doing much more dangerous things I would imagine. Did those childhood incidents harm him? No, they are his war wounds from a childhood of free exploration, ‘dangerous’ games and fun. In fact, I think he is a tad proud of them!

One of the games that was big when we were young didn’t have a name (or, I can’t remember it), you basically swung on a swing as high as you could then you would leap off and try and get as far as you could. Two people would do this, the winner would stay on and take the next person on….dangerous? yes, any fatalities? not even a broken leg…

Was my mum a bad mum for letting us do this (the bits she knew we were doing!)? No. I know this because all the other kids were there too, even the rich ones! It’s just the way it was.

Childhood is short, lets not spoilt it for the kids by denying them the freedom we had, to explore, make up games and generally, well, be kids…