School started today in Sioux Falls (August 16, 2010).  Some parents are sending their first little one to an all day experience without mom and dad around.  Other parents are sending their youngest child to their senior year, and the inevitable empty nest is just around the corner.  This can be an anxious time for both children and parents.  Change isn’t always easy.  However, a mark of our humanity is our ability to adapt to changes that are put upon us, and school is one of those things that is put upon us for our good.

Your child may have some difficulty adjusting to school.  But be patient with your child, because in just a week or two he or she will likely adjust to the new schedule, and so will you (so be patient with yourself as well).

There is something I want you to consider at the start of this school year.  Schools are obviously built on the principle of a good education, and performance is a big piece of that.  However, our children are individuals with varied abilities and varied needs.  We want our children to perform well, but we don’t want them to connect performance with personal value.  Value in this world is inherent in existence.  To be alive is to have value.  To be alive is to have worth.  We don’t earn value – we are valuable.

Discover that for yourself, and pass that message on to your children.  The interesting thing is this: when we have a sense of personal value that our culture and our community and our family teach us, then our natural inclination is to do our best in school or in our jobs as an expression of our value rather than as an effort to acquire value.  That is a very different way to live, and a much healthier way as well.