Yes, this is the shameless plug of an extremely proud dad, but shouldn't we all be proud of our kid's accomplishments.

From Kindergarten to Graduate school, the months of May and June are cornerstone months symbolic of academic achievements and scholastic growth.  Graduations are celebrated, report cards are issued and a chapter in a students life is closed, but as parents what does this mean beyond the class room? 

How is our kid developing behaviorally? Sociologically and Philosophically?

It used to be that our elementary schools only focused on the core studies of Math, Science, Reading and a few other foundational subjects, but today's student are much more sophisticated and our school system and parents need to look deeper than core subjects to understand how our kids are maturing.  I'm a firm believer that the responsibility of developing good moral character and values rests with the parents, but teachers have a great influence and the biggest gains are made when parents and teachers have good open dialogue that works together to steer a child's development. 

When you get the right combination of support from parents and teachers behind a kids natural interest's, the possibilities and results are amazing!  Such was the case with my 5th grade daughter this year. 

My daughter's teacher, Mrs. Smith,  (really that's her name - go figure) from James Foster School in Santa Clarita was a most impressive and influential educator for my daughter.  Most of us can identify with a teacher or two in our life that we remember forever.  Often we can pinpoint something they said or did that molds us forever.  I'm pretty sure that I can speak for my daughter and say that Mrs. Smith will be one of the memorable ones.

This year Mrs. Smith gave her class a simple creative writing assignment that started as an art coloring project.   She told the class to draw a picture of a jar and then fill the jar with an item of their choosing.  The object can be a single item or many of the same item, but the jar must be filled with that item.

Shortly after the class was done with the coloring project, the real assignment began.  Mrs. Smith asked a philosopher's favorite question.  WHY?  

                   "Write a story telling why you selected that item and what about it makes it special." 

The results of giving 5th graders the freedom to write whatever is on their mind eventually became the most telling report card my daughter's ever brought home.  My wife and I have always known her letter grade scores, but this assignment helped us confirm where we were with the development of our daughters personal values. 

As I looked at all of the other kids jar projects during open house night, I realized what amazing kids we really have these days.  The stories they wrote were very telling of what was on their mind.  Dr. Phil would've had a field day interpreting these stories.  Sure there's always the class clown, but even that kid wrote thought provoking stories worthy of his parents pride.

So as I said at the beginning of this post, it's with the sheer pride of a Dad that I present my daughter's assignment. Keep in mind this project was done in about an hour and was written off the top of her head.

Here's what she wrote:

                                 "I Filled my jar with keys because I want to lock the door to bad choices, open the door
                                  to happiness, and unlock and reveal the path to integrity.   With my keys, I would give 
                                  each person two keys and take them to lock the door to bad choices.  When they realize
                                  there is no path to take, they would unlock a door to happiness and goodness.  However
                                  there is a third key, but only one of this key is contained in the jar.  This third key
                                  reveals the path to integrity.  The path will only open to a person who chooses not to
                                  unlock the door to bad choices when they can.  These keys are the better choice, but
                                  you're in control.  The choice is yours to make." 

So ask yourself, what did your kid learn this school year?  Look deeper than their grades.  Help them develop their inner self, their self esteem, their values, their ambitions.  Let them dream and help them dream bigger.  The results are awesome and as parents we owe it to our kids to give them our full support.

Please share your kid's stories and accomplishments.  I'd love to hear them.  (It helps me sleep better knowing my future is in good hands)

PS.  For Privacy and protection I have omitted my daughters name from this post.  If you know her and leave a comment, please refrain from using her name.