Essays on Mom and more

Reading the hundreds of essays I received for the Mother’s Day pages provided a bit of insight into Union County education, homes and rules of discipline.
Forget the Benchmark tests, one very clear assessment of a child’s academic progress exhibits itself every time a child takes a pencil in hand and begins to write. And I am not talking about penmanship here. Since childhood, I have heard how atrociously I form letters. The comments about neatness only faded after my kid brother said it looked like the handwriting of math major – which we both are.
What I am talking about is the ability of a child in grades four through six to write a simple sentence, express themselves clearly on paper and to support their statements. Since I am not an elementary education major I do not pretend to know what to expect of this age of student, but after a week of reading essays, I cannot help but notice vast differences in grammar, complexity of ideas and the ability to develop a brief paragraph, frequently from school to school.
No one gets the credit, but my guess is that some of the children’s ability to express themselves adequately originated in the homes which they write about. Of course, since these essays are aimed at mothers, they write about their mothers who brought them into this world, take them shopping, buy them clothes, put food on the table and a roof over their heads. Some of the children who express themselves the best wrote about time spent talking with their mothers about movies or television shows they have seen or problems they have. Talking about the world beyond the playground stimulates children’s minds and their ability to grasp and express concepts.
Hurrah for moms who talk with their children. And a bigger hurrah for the handful (literally) of mom’s whose children wrote about their reading books to them. I realize by fourth grade most children can read their own books, but to still spend the time reading books aloud with the child underscores the importance of the written word and improves testing scores.
And speaking of the importance of words. Children notice their mother’s words when it comes to discipline. Several noted that if their mother grounded them for a week, within a day or two they could pretty much do everything because -without talking about it – the punishment was rescinded. Pretty good deal for the kid right now – but I wonder about later when natural consequences begin to catch up with the child in the real world and the mother wants her child to heed her warnings and they figure it is like all those times they were grounded. Sure mom or the teacher or the police officer is upset today, but in a couple days, they’ll calm down and it all will pass.
Although they may grumble, plead and test the lines drawn, children notice when mom means what she says and follows through consistently. Some of the essays reflected an increasing awareness of that truth. Many children who wrote about discipline said in so many words, “She just does it because she loves me and doesn’t want me to go to jail.”
Kids are insightful and their essays reflect it. Excerpts from their essays were published last Thursday. More will be published again this coming Thursday.