Interesting Insight

This weekend I learned something about my almost 13 year old daughter.

This young lady, wise beyond her years is setting herself up for success without the assistance of her parents. She has figured out all on her own what it will take to be successful as an adult and is starting now.

She has always been a smart kid. We attribute this in part to her preschool to kindergarten years in a Montesory daycare as well as grade one in the Montesory programme at the school she attended when we lived in New Westminster. This, I firmly believe, taught her how to learn and what she took from this experience has stayed with he all these years.

The insight I gained from her was in the form of very random chit-chat while we were out and about over this past weekend. The first insight came when she called me Friday to tell me that she had attended her first challenge programme class at school. This is a class for exceptional students to "challenge" them to think outside the box. Her first task was to figure out how to cut a news paper page so that it is large enough to walk through without cutting the outside edge. This sounds relatively simplistic however, unless you have done this I challenge anyone to give it a try. Well, she figured it out, and ya, it is possible, in fact it was big enough that I was able to pass though it with no problem.

The second insight came when she was telling me about a dance routine they have to do for PE were they work in groups and come up with a routine that is graded by the teacher. Now, my daughter has a varied group of friends all of which she has worked with over the past two years on various group projects. While you would think if given a choice most friend groups would stick together, well not my girl. The way she explained it is, "school is not about friends but grades, and I want to get an A so I chose a group with a girl who takes a dance class." Now, this is the same group she danced with last year and they got an A whereas the group with her friends didn't do so well. Smart thinking, not to mention it expands her group of friends to include girls she wouldn't normally hang out with. What I see is she is alying herself with people who will help her insure her success.

The third insight came last night as I was driving my kids to their dad's to start their week with him. This was an entirely random thought and she felt it necessary to talk about it. Her comment went something like this, "People say money doesn't buy happiness, I disagree. Without money how can you be happy?" "Money is an important part of life" "They teach us that it's important to have food, shelter and clothing, you get these things with money." This got us talking about how 100 years ago you could survive on very little money because you would have the necessities of life from simple means. Today, it's virtually impossible to attain the necessities without money. She is right to a certain extent, money does buy happiness, how happy are you when you run out? Imagine the life of a homeless person, or a single mom who relies on government assistance to feed her kids. Do you think money would make them happy? I do, I know when I get a win fall from work or mom and dad it puts a smile on my face, that buys my happiness for sure.

Money, however, is the root of all evil is it not? When you think about it you can't live with it, and you can't live without it. The conversation evolved into, why do we need money anyway? Well, in this day and age, it's an integral part of survival. My daughter expanded that to say money should be part of a survival kit because what happens if there is a power failure and you can't access your money from the bank machine? Good point, if we rely so heavily on our various electronic devices would we survive? Maybe keeping your money in the mattress is a wise idea, pay cash for everything and avoid credit like the plague. Maybe if we were to revert to the simplified means of our grand parents or great grand parents we would be happier without money. Doubtful but where is our need for money leading us? What will our grand children and great grand children see when they look back and wonder what life was like for us? Interesting things to ponder.

These insights were brought to you by way of an almost 13 year old (this March) who in my eyes a beautiful, intelligent girl who is destine to be an important member of society. She is setting herself up for success and success will be hers. I couldn't be prouder to say I'm her mom. She is remarkable and wise beyond her years, she was born to make a difference in this world and it's an honour that she chose me to be her mom.

With much love, light and pride.
Tammy.