Thursday, April 7, 2011

nine years old

Ok, I have to make this post quick, I have to leave in a few minutes. I was going to go to the Y tonight to take a couple exercise classes, but I forgot I promised a bunch of my students that I'd go to their track meet. I've never been to one, so it should be pretty interesting. It's FREEZING out, though, so I'm going to have to take a blanket. Besides, I did my thirty minutes on the treadmill this morning so it's ok if I don't get any extra in - I'll just have to go tomorrow night (I don't usually go on Fridays). See, I LOVE how doing those thirty minutes in the morning work to my advantage!!

Anyways, the point of my post today is something I learned in school (how cool is that - that a teacher can still learn something new along with her students). One of my classes is called enrichment, which is kind of a tutoring period I have with some of my special education kids where we can work on stuff they are doing in their regular classes. The school has implemented these nice programs that help with students in a social way called Choices. A lady comes in once a week and holds sessions with the kids, and on Thursdays, they've picked my enrichment class to be one of them. My students in that class are amazing kids, with a lot of different personalities that make them so fun and wonderful. The lady, Mrs. D., had them do a self-esteem questionaire on themselves. Though they didn't need to turn them in or share the answers, I snuck around and peeked a little. It's always interesting to see what kids think of themselves. So to wrap up, Mrs. D. shared a few facts with them and one was about research that was done with self-esteem. Did you know that a girl's self-esteem grows from birth to about age nine, where it peeks and drops from there?!?!?! NINE YEARS OLD!! That's what, third grade? Fourth? And you know where the drop comes from - their peers and the media of course. That's entirely too young for girls to start thinking negatively about themselves.

I just found that information very interesting and eye-opening. I figured I'd share, especially for those with of you with children.

Well, I'm heading out to watch my kids. You wouldn't believe how much it makes a kid's day when they know someone is coming to their game/match/meet. Maybe it'll improve that self-esteem thing?

Have a good one everyone!

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