Celebrate Like a Fish!
I was born on the cusp of spring, a Pisces soul with an Aries temper.
It’s a fun time for a birthday. Flowers are starting to bloom, we’re beginning to see the days stretch later and of course we start flirting with warmer weather.
This year, I’m officially old. Double nickels. While some folks squirm at that thought, I feel it as a warm embrace. I saw a video recently that said the first person who will live to the age of 150 has already been born. A financial adviser recently shared that they now only write insurance policies if they pay out til age 120. Because of centuries of dedication by scientists, farmers and doctors, people are living longer and healthier lives. But even with that impressive detail, I am not sure we’re enjoying the extra time. Instead of celebrating the years, some people spend it staring at their phones, gaming screens, televisions. We rush children to begin sitting down to learn, filling in multiple choice worksheets and fill their free time with television shows. PreK has been introduced in many states as the beginning of a child’s educational career which is now filled with standardized testing, banned books and sometimes exclusion for those who think or process differently.
I loved my career as a teacher. I fell in love with so many kiddos who have grown into such lovely adults with kids of their own. What a gift, to spend your life doing what you love. Sadly, the school building has become a different space. Field trips are a thing of the past. Plays and other pinnacle moments don’t exist inside the school day anymore. Why? Because a bunch of people who know very little about how children truly learn, have made the decision to assess what happens inside a school building by multiple choice questions on a standardized test. And they demand these scores while also demanding differentiated education while requiring every child be assessed with the same standard test.
The skills we learned in school are not the same skills that our kids are going to need to be successful and continue to move our world forward. The 21st century needs students who know how to work as a team. They need to be flexible and resilient, with the capacity to imagine and create things not yet thought of. And they need empathy, to care about and contribute to the people and causes they care about. And maybe most importantly, they need to learn how to really enjoy the moments (big and small) since their lives are going to be filled with even more of them.
What can we do with these “extra” years? Do we stick them all at the end? Maybe instead, we could add them at the beginning. Or in the middle. More time for play, for exploring. More time for wonder and excitement for learning new things. Without testing. Without grades. Research already shows that growth and tenacity doesn’t happen through perfection. It happens when we repeatedly engage with the world. Learning to make mistakes and messes are a bonus. What if we embrace mistakes?
As it turns out, those are the exact skills our kit and app help develop. As I built this brand, it happened step by step, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle is not finished yet, but when we stand back, we are able to begin to make out the picture of the final product.
What a gift when we get to look at it this way.
And speaking of gifts and birthdays… I found out that My Gnome on the Roam made it into the Top 100 Finalists in the FedEx Small Business Grant Contest! There were almost 18,000 entries this year (yes, you read that right!!!!) and so many amazing businesses to review making it quite the honor to be selected as one of the Top 100 Finalists. Team Gnome has been doing backflips! 🌈🌈🌈
I would be so honored if you would vote for us. You can vote once each day from March 22-31
Thank you for being a part of this journey with us.
Team Gnome