Sack The Teacher

The child asked, “Should I try this?”

The teacher replied, “You won’t like it, no one will like you, you’ll be really bad at it, you’ll look stupid, don’t even try it.”     

The child believed the teacher and gave up before they started.  

You might be thinking what a dreadful teacher. How did they ever get a job teaching that poor child?  

The truth is the child gave them a job.  

You see, there are two teachers your child could have chosen from: 

1. Experience

2. Fear  

But they hired Fear.

We all know about the importance of a good teacher. They have the amazing ability to ‘open up’ new worlds to us. We also know that a poor teacher, by contrast, can reduce our self-confidence, undermine our sense of safety and make our world seem somehow smaller.  

It’s a distinctly unpleasant feeling to have a child who won’t try anything new because “they might not like it” or “they won’t know anyone” or “they might look silly.”

Of course, they have those fears. Nobody want to do things they don’t like, nobody likes the idea of being rejected and nobody likes being mocked by a group. But here’s the thing. 

They might love it, they might meet their best friend and they might find that they are amazing at this new thing.  

The point is they might like it, or they might not. 

They might make friends, they might not. 

They might be good at it, they might not.  

But, they’ll never know, if they never go.

The very best teacher of humans always has been and always will be experience. By contrast, one of the least reliable teachers is fear.  It will tell you all sorts of stories about how dreadful and scary any new thing is. 

Children think it’s keeping them safe but it’s often just keeping them trapped.  

So, remind your child that they can choose their teacher - fear or experience. 

And remind them to choose wisely. 

Andrew ‘Choose your Teacher’ Wright