I told you Jeffrey started reading at an early age! One of my favorite pics of Jeff. He used to lay down and read books at a very young age for hours. At least at this age he didn't fall down the stairs while was reading. Maybe it was because he probably wasn't walking yet!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3578511982935&set=t.1263440572&type=1
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
I'm not inclined to argue... yeah right!
They say kids say the darndest things... and whoever "they" are is right.
Lately, Jeff, had been declaring "I'm not inclined to argue." Mom and I nearly fell off our chairs the first time we heard it. After we stopped rolling on the floor laughing and picked ourselves up we looked at Jeff and even he started laughing at what he said.
There's no denying it. Jeff (and to a lesser degree, Sam) is very inclined to argue. I've wondered if they are going to grow up to be a Packard and Packard law firm. There are times when I'm confident that they argue just because they have a mouth and a brain and because they can argue.
Basically, arguing for the sake of arguing. With their intellect and their vocabulary it makes for an interesting challenge at times. Other times it is just down right annoying and I'd rather duct tape their mouths than listen to them.
I've felt lately that sometimes we've created a couple monsters (lawyers) by encouraging our kids by verbally reinforcing how smart they are. I recently got counsel from a very wise man (my pastor) that I need to be careful to praise their character and not their performance. As I discussed this counsel with my wife we started to analyze why we always felt so inclined to praise performance. We concluded we were so tired of hearing from teachers and neighbors about how bad Jeff was that we needed to balance that with positivity and the thing most obvious to compliment was his intellect. His behavior was a challenge to compliment as I've detailed before.
So... Jeff has repeated his comment several times recently and we all seem to get a smile when he does. A sign that we are maturing as a family and that Jeff can laugh at himself - at least some times.
Now, the other times still present a challenge.
Lately, Jeff, had been declaring "I'm not inclined to argue." Mom and I nearly fell off our chairs the first time we heard it. After we stopped rolling on the floor laughing and picked ourselves up we looked at Jeff and even he started laughing at what he said.
There's no denying it. Jeff (and to a lesser degree, Sam) is very inclined to argue. I've wondered if they are going to grow up to be a Packard and Packard law firm. There are times when I'm confident that they argue just because they have a mouth and a brain and because they can argue.
Basically, arguing for the sake of arguing. With their intellect and their vocabulary it makes for an interesting challenge at times. Other times it is just down right annoying and I'd rather duct tape their mouths than listen to them.
I've felt lately that sometimes we've created a couple monsters (lawyers) by encouraging our kids by verbally reinforcing how smart they are. I recently got counsel from a very wise man (my pastor) that I need to be careful to praise their character and not their performance. As I discussed this counsel with my wife we started to analyze why we always felt so inclined to praise performance. We concluded we were so tired of hearing from teachers and neighbors about how bad Jeff was that we needed to balance that with positivity and the thing most obvious to compliment was his intellect. His behavior was a challenge to compliment as I've detailed before.
So... Jeff has repeated his comment several times recently and we all seem to get a smile when he does. A sign that we are maturing as a family and that Jeff can laugh at himself - at least some times.
Now, the other times still present a challenge.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Happy Birthday, Jeff
Today was a special day.
Sticking with family tradition we (mom, dad and Sam) woke up Jeffrey by singing happy birthday and giving him his birthday gifts.
Even more unique was that we got Jeff a candy apple red bass guitar as he had been hinting around lately that he wanted to play the bass in a band with Sam. Jeff has had music in his past. He played piano for 2 1/2 years or so and was quite accomplished but in a different way than Sam. He was more classical and technical compared to Sam's style.
Jeff also played tuba for a couple years as a 4th and 5th grader and was quite good at it as well. But, wow, what a pain to transport back and forth to school.
Anyway, Jeff has exposure to music and knows the low notes that he'd need to play with the bass guitar and seems to have the desire to play. We can even hook it up to the amp we already have so we are good to go there.
One really neat thing is how we sang this morning. Sam figured out quickly how to play "Happy Birthday" and we carted the amp up to Jeff's room and hooked up the bass guitar and Sam accompanied us in our song.
Jeff admitted he was surprised and didn't expect what we got him so we - as parents - were pleased with ourselves and that Sam was able to keep a secret. Sam has also promised/volunteered to teach Jeff how to play the bass parts in his compositions.
Let's hope this is another piece of what will be the Packard Brothers Band! (OK, the boys won't go with this name but as of this writing there isn't any official name so this will do until then.)
Until we write again!
Sticking with family tradition we (mom, dad and Sam) woke up Jeffrey by singing happy birthday and giving him his birthday gifts.
Even more unique was that we got Jeff a candy apple red bass guitar as he had been hinting around lately that he wanted to play the bass in a band with Sam. Jeff has had music in his past. He played piano for 2 1/2 years or so and was quite accomplished but in a different way than Sam. He was more classical and technical compared to Sam's style.
Jeff also played tuba for a couple years as a 4th and 5th grader and was quite good at it as well. But, wow, what a pain to transport back and forth to school.
Anyway, Jeff has exposure to music and knows the low notes that he'd need to play with the bass guitar and seems to have the desire to play. We can even hook it up to the amp we already have so we are good to go there.
One really neat thing is how we sang this morning. Sam figured out quickly how to play "Happy Birthday" and we carted the amp up to Jeff's room and hooked up the bass guitar and Sam accompanied us in our song.
Jeff admitted he was surprised and didn't expect what we got him so we - as parents - were pleased with ourselves and that Sam was able to keep a secret. Sam has also promised/volunteered to teach Jeff how to play the bass parts in his compositions.
Let's hope this is another piece of what will be the Packard Brothers Band! (OK, the boys won't go with this name but as of this writing there isn't any official name so this will do until then.)
Until we write again!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Affected by Attitude
I've heard it said many times and many places that Attitude affects Altitude.
After reviewing the formula that has been developed over the past several posts I have to agree and make it the final component for consideration. (If this is your first time reading my blog I suggest you go back a few posts to catch up. Otherwise this won't make much sense.)
Here is the formula we've developed so far...
((A + O)/X)E = Achievement
Where A is Ability and O is Opportunity. X stands for eXcuses and E represents Effort. Finally, I think Altitude mentioned above and Achievement and are synonomous (doesn't look like that is a word) and will be thought of in that way.
So... where does Attitude fit in? I believe it is the most critical component of the entire equation and it can undermine the success of the scenario. Attitude should be a number above 0 and below 1 and should be calculated last. Once the Achievement has been obtained to whatever level reached than divide that by your Attitude component (I'm going to call it T) to see how it might detract from the Achievement.
For example, if the Attitude was the best possible you would put a 1 in the formula and it would not have diminished the Achievement one bit. But a crappy Attitude will pull away from the Achievement - in my opinion, but hey it's my blog - no matter what it is or how high because it will take away from the joy of the Achievement and likely affect those around you in a negative way.
My final formula as it stands is this...
(((A + O)/X)E = Achievement)/T
One example that comes to mind is Bobby Knight. One of the winningnest college basketball coaches of all time. No doubt he had the Ability and Opportunity to coach. He also wasn't much for eXcuses so that didn't diminish he Achievement. I don't think there was any questioning his Effort. And his number of Wins speaks volumes. However, (in my opinion) his incredibly poor attitude toward his players, coaches, fans, media and referees overshadowed the wins and I'll remember him more for that.
You may think of or know of others that come to mind.
Have a great day and thanks for reading.
After reviewing the formula that has been developed over the past several posts I have to agree and make it the final component for consideration. (If this is your first time reading my blog I suggest you go back a few posts to catch up. Otherwise this won't make much sense.)
Here is the formula we've developed so far...
((A + O)/X)E = Achievement
Where A is Ability and O is Opportunity. X stands for eXcuses and E represents Effort. Finally, I think Altitude mentioned above and Achievement and are synonomous (doesn't look like that is a word) and will be thought of in that way.
So... where does Attitude fit in? I believe it is the most critical component of the entire equation and it can undermine the success of the scenario. Attitude should be a number above 0 and below 1 and should be calculated last. Once the Achievement has been obtained to whatever level reached than divide that by your Attitude component (I'm going to call it T) to see how it might detract from the Achievement.
For example, if the Attitude was the best possible you would put a 1 in the formula and it would not have diminished the Achievement one bit. But a crappy Attitude will pull away from the Achievement - in my opinion, but hey it's my blog - no matter what it is or how high because it will take away from the joy of the Achievement and likely affect those around you in a negative way.
My final formula as it stands is this...
(((A + O)/X)E = Achievement)/T
One example that comes to mind is Bobby Knight. One of the winningnest college basketball coaches of all time. No doubt he had the Ability and Opportunity to coach. He also wasn't much for eXcuses so that didn't diminish he Achievement. I don't think there was any questioning his Effort. And his number of Wins speaks volumes. However, (in my opinion) his incredibly poor attitude toward his players, coaches, fans, media and referees overshadowed the wins and I'll remember him more for that.
You may think of or know of others that come to mind.
Have a great day and thanks for reading.
Monday, March 5, 2012
You miss 100% of the shots you don't take
I believe it was Wayne Gretzky who said this.
While I'm not much of a hockey fan I have to admire his ability and record. Plus, this fits into our Achievement Formula we've been developing.
Basically, a shot can be interpreted as Effort and WG is saying that without taking a shot you (putting forth the effort) you will always "miss" (and won't achieve). It's tough these days to get kids to put forth the effort. A few years back I talked with a friend whose job included working with incoming college freshman. I asked him what the #1 challenge facing kids these days was. He basically said it was the ability to think critically - problem solving skills.
Kids these days have too many things done for them and when they get out on their own they wonder who is going to solve their next problem. They haven't put in any effort - or been allowed to put any effort by their parents - into investigating what it is that is the source of the problem and the "why" that problem is occurring so they can take appropriate steps to solve the problem and better yet insure that it doesn't happen again in the future. If it does happen then they should be prepared to solve it on their own. Another form of achievement.
Practice and failures and not bad things but good things if you put effort into both of them. Look at Michael Jordan - the National Basketball Asociation's all time leading scorer. He has the most points ever and he also has the most missed shots ever.
Do you think he learned anything by putting effort into why he missed those shots?
Have a great day!
While I'm not much of a hockey fan I have to admire his ability and record. Plus, this fits into our Achievement Formula we've been developing.
Basically, a shot can be interpreted as Effort and WG is saying that without taking a shot you (putting forth the effort) you will always "miss" (and won't achieve). It's tough these days to get kids to put forth the effort. A few years back I talked with a friend whose job included working with incoming college freshman. I asked him what the #1 challenge facing kids these days was. He basically said it was the ability to think critically - problem solving skills.
Kids these days have too many things done for them and when they get out on their own they wonder who is going to solve their next problem. They haven't put in any effort - or been allowed to put any effort by their parents - into investigating what it is that is the source of the problem and the "why" that problem is occurring so they can take appropriate steps to solve the problem and better yet insure that it doesn't happen again in the future. If it does happen then they should be prepared to solve it on their own. Another form of achievement.
Practice and failures and not bad things but good things if you put effort into both of them. Look at Michael Jordan - the National Basketball Asociation's all time leading scorer. He has the most points ever and he also has the most missed shots ever.
Do you think he learned anything by putting effort into why he missed those shots?
Have a great day!
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