One Size Does Not Fit All When Raising Children
Dr. George H. Reavis, Assistant Superintendent, Cincinnati Public Schools, 1939-1948 reminds us of this fable.
Once upon a time the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of “a new world.” So they organized a school.
They adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming, and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculun all the animals took all the subjects.
The duck was excellent in swimming, in fact better than his instructor; but he made only passing grades in flying and was very poor in running. Since he was slow in running, he had to stay after school and also drop swimming in order to practice running. This was kept up until his web feet were badly worn and he was only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school so nobody worried about that except the duck.
The rabbit started at the top of the class in running, but had a nervous breakdown because of so much make-up work in swimming.
The squirrel was excellent in climbing until he developed frustration in the flying class where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of from the tree top down. He also developed a “charlie horse” from over-exertion and then got C in climbing and D in running.
The eagle was a problem child and was disciplined severely. In the climbing class he beat all the others to the top of the tree, but insisted on using his own way to get there.
At the end of the year, an abnormal eel that could swim exceedingly well, and also run, climb, and fly a little, had the highest average and was valedictorian.
Remember. If you have more than one child, they will all be different from each other. Know what their differences are and how to help them develop their own strengths.
