heaven knows what all.
The following chart helps us clarify when we should be concerned
about our children’s performance:
In sum, when kids perform like turkeys but want to become eagles,
they eventually fly like pros. But when they perform like turkeys and feel
like eagles, they never get off the ground.
With report cards, as with many other issues, children want pizzazz.
They want parental emotion. On an unconscious basis, it doesn’t matter
whether the parental emotion is positive or negative — they’ll shoot for
it, regardless. Thus, when children return from school offering a report
card of mixed quality, parents should enthuse over the positive and be
nonemotionally insistent about the negative. A discussion might go like
this:
DAD: “Hey, a big A in art! That’s great! You always did like art,
didn’t you?”
CHILD: “Yeah, art is fun.”
DAD: “And a B in gym! Well, of course, you always did run like the
wind. And another B in music. That’s really good! Hmmm, a D in