"Be Nicer than You Must" and other Advice to Pass on to Young Students!
By Kathlene Mullens
What do you say to a kid on their first day
of school or as they get ready to keep plugging away as the year gets
started? Who am I to give advice? Oh, wait... I'm me, and I love to give
advice. If I could go back to little Kathlene heading off to elementary
school, I'd tell her a thing or ten. These would be on my list:
1. Try everything that does not violate any of Auntie’s rules (or your parents' rules) about life.
Try jumping rope, playing tag, green beans, wearing mismatched socks,
singing, dancing, being line leader, being line follower, and whenever
you're faced with a new situation, imagine all the things you've tried
and succeeded at before and think to yourself, "If I did all of THAT, I
can probably do THIS!"
2. Trust yourself more. People
spend most of their lives telling themselves that they can't do
things—most often, they can if they try. Michael Phelps didn't start off
as Michael Phelps, Olympic champion. He started off as a kid swimming
in a pool. He practiced a lot. He had great coaches to whom he listened
and a supportive environment at home. He wanted to be an Olympic
champion more than anything. He didn't just jump in the pool, swim a few
laps, and hop out with a dozen medals. Oh, and he lost sometimes too
but kept going.
3. Use all of the colors in your crayon box as often as possible.
Seriously—otherwise you'll end up with 40 sharp crayons, 20 barely used
crayons, 20 sort of used crayons, and 16 over-used, nubby crayons by
spring. All of the colors can be beautiful—see how they fit together and
where they can contribute to your project.
4. Mistakes are part of life. Learn from them, and then keep going. Stop beating yourself up so much about your imperfections.
5. Take care of your stuff. There's no cool factor in tearing up or being careless with your stuff.
6. Be nicer than you must.
When you grow up, you'll see that people make fun of others only so
that they feel better about themselves. Feel better about you, and be
kind to others.
7. This might sound like a contradiction, but stand up for yourself when you must. Note that I said, "Must," like when you cannot stand it anymore or it is someone doing something bad to you.
8. Have good manners. Say: "Please," "Thank you," and "Excuse me" as often as you should. Politeness will serve you well through adulthood.
9. Have fun! Take some time every day to do something that you enjoy besides watching TV.
10.
And a bonus that is mostly for we Aunties: We have two ears and one
mouth—learn as early as possible to listen more than you talk. (I'm still working hardest on this one!)
Make it an awesome school year!
__________
Kathlene Mullens, MLHR, SPHR, BSBA is the founder and CEO of Female Equality MattersTM, The "No Glass Ceiling" Certification/Brand©.
With over a decade of HR experience in four Fortune 100 companies, Ms.
Mullens is using that expertise in recruiting, line HR, employee
development, and technology to help leverage the power of consumer
spending to yield more women, with more equitable pay, in the C-suite
and board rooms of companies, non-profits, and colleges/universities
around the world.
Photo: monkeybusinessimages
Updated and republished: September 7, 2016