Growing Good People
As someone who has experienced more birthdays than most of you, parents often seek my advice on how to maximise their child’s opportunities to be successful. Sometimes I think we try too hard. Follow these four simple tips and the whole family will reap the benefits.
- Trust and support the teachers, and savour their differences. As a parent of three grown daughters, I learnt that the respective talents of individual teachers combine over the years into not just an enjoyable journey, but also a marvellous end result. Ask any parent of a graduating Year 12 at Investigator, and I am sure they will say the same.
- Make the most of opportunities on offer. How often have we heard people say, “I wish I had done x when I was younger”? Encourage your child to give things a try, so he or she can live a life without regrets. Ask yourself, “What is the worst thing that can happen if my child does not like it?” Probably something that would barely register on the catastrophe scale. Just remember to allow time for relaxation as well.
- Remember that each day will not be perfect. I see too many parents get caught up on a less-than-perfect experience that their child reports on when they get into the car after school. Too often parents then try to rescue their child, not realising that they are only exacerbating the situation.To enable students to become successful people, we need to let them fall, and to face natural (safe) consequences. Rescuing children also teaches them that they do not need to be organised, nor that you have faith in their ability to handle their own problems. Work with (not against) the exceptional Investigator staff in these situations and your children will be the winners.
- Savour family time. Your children grow up so quickly and the experiences you provide for them foster happy memories and feelings of security. By ‘experiences’, I am looking way beyond overseas holiday destinations or the purchase of lavish gifts. I am referring to playing a board game or cards as a family, a backyard ball-game with your children, a walk, swim, surf or bike-ride together, visiting an older relative, or perhaps cooking as a team. At Investigator we aim to grow good people, and the family experiences and values you share when they are young will remain with them always.
2022 Speech Day
As you are a valued member of our very special community, I ask that you please make arrangements to attend the 2022 Investigator College Speech Day on Thursday, 8 December beginning at 1:00pm in the Performing Arts and Sports Centre (PASC). Acknowledging that it is difficult for some of you to attend, this important event will again be live-streamed (link below).
This year’s guest speaker is the founder and CEO of Kickstart For Kids, Ian Steel, and the music performances will be spectacular. I guarantee you will feel very proud of your association with this fine College, as we continue to move from strength to strength.
