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May 24, 2010

Sportmanship and Empathy

As I discussed sportsmanship with our classes one thing came up that I found very interesting. Sportsmanship is very much like empathy. When we look at what we do through the eyes of others, when we put ourselves in their shoes we know immediately if what we are doing demonstrates sportsmanship.

I know that when I think about who I like to compete with it is those that don’t complain if they lose or gloat when they win. They don’t yell at me if I make a mistake, and they don’t make fun of me. They won’t push me and always try to make things fair. Now if they are the things that make me feel good about playing with someone, then I want to be sure to do the same for them. (that is empathy)

This is a great time to teach our children about empathy using sports or games. They can see and feel it and that experience will have the greatest impact on them.

February 9, 2009

Trustworthiness: not cheating or stealing

Being trustworthy is one of those qualities that we expect and want in our children. As a parent we want our children to do what is right, to tell the truth and to be fair by not cheating or stealing. Due to the busy schedule everyone has today though, we sometimes overlook the idea of deliberately teaching the virtues that we would like to see in our child.
If we wait to discuss with our children the character trait that leads to not cheating or stealing until there is an incident, we will find that the emotions are too high to make any inroads on that subject. It is the reason that we at Balanced Life Skills are committed to discussing these with our students when there are no obvious reason to do so.
Cheating and stealing is what we will be discussing this week and the affect it has on our ability to be trusted by others. As many times in the past, we will be emphasizing that the consequence of cheating or stealing is the loss of trust and we practice trustworthiness because it is the right thing to do.
This would be a great time for parents to tie into our discussions at home by asking your child what they would do if they saw one of their friends cheating in a game, or copying off of someone’s paper. Or what would they do if they saw someone taking something that did not belong to them? These type of short conversations where we listen deeply and express our family’s belief on this subject will have a great impact on their conduct later in their life.

April 14, 2008

Jr. Diabetes Walk

Sunday morning turned out to be a beautiful day for the Jr. Diabetes walk. So many of our students turned out many of them I did not see till we were walking or they were headed home. This was great to show our support for Chris and everyone else that deals with this everyday. Now we need to defend ourselves from Type 2 and BLS will be continuing to talk about how to protect ourselves, not only to our students, but to the community as well.
I am sorry that I did not get more photos of those that attended. I had a great time walking with our students and their families. Thank you again!
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January 27, 2007

SPCA Day- January 27 2007

A big thank you for everyone who came out and supported our SPCA day here at Balanced Life Skills! We raised so much food and other animal supplies and had a great time. After the event, Anne told us that you guys were the most behaved group of students she has had. Great job, no push ups!