Blog Beginning

I have had the feeling that I should write down my thoughts on parenting in the hopes that it may help my children in raising theirs. I hope these expressions are helpful, and that you are charitable toward me for them! Perhaps my first thought would be that many times people preach and push the opposite in philosophy from what they really are and really do. The art teacher proclaims freedom and imagination in expression and then criticizes any who do differently in their expression of art than he does. The teacher preparation professor, who proclaims forcefully the need for teachers to be caring and nurturing, is subjective and arbitrary in her grading. In my own teaching I have been outspoken in my proclamations for firmness and discipline, yet a principal remarked that certain students were put in my class, because he knew I would be lenient with them. In reading anyone's philosophies that principle needs to be kept in mind, namely that we do not always internally believe what we say and verily do think we believe. This may be because we are unconsciously pulling against our own actions when we speak. Perhaps I say this as a disclaimer at the outset.