Sometimes, treat your kids like adults
My 11 year old daughter was given a creative writing assignment, to create a poem or essay or short story about love.
What she wrote (which I posted on my blog) seemed so mature to me that I took off my daddy hat and put on my professional editor’s hat. I asked her permission to do so first, but then I treated her like any other client.
I knew she was 11, but just the same, her essay was so well conceived that I blew past spelling and sentence structure and went right into a grown-up discussion about craft, just as if she were any of my other clients who hire me as an editor.
I knew it was risky, ’cause, hey, she’s 11. But in this case, I knew she was ready. We had a great time, we talked about crafting an essay, about fine tuning, about finding your voice. Again, I treated her like any other grownup client. And it worked. She took to it like I take to a box of cookies.
My point here is to lead up to my mantra about kids – Kids are no different than you or me, save two things: they’re shorter than you and have less experience. Otherwise, they are people, just like you and me.
Sometimes it’s hard to remember that, but when I do, it pays off in spades.
[tags]teen, toddler, homework, parent, son, daughter, teach, creative, writing, school, respect, parenting [/tags]
Photo courtesy of David Asch via flickr, used under a Creative Commons License.
2 responses so far ↓
Mr. Fabulous // Dec 26, 2006 at 11:27 pm
But I don’t know how to play spades. So where is my payoff?
Alice // Dec 29, 2006 at 3:25 am
Your 11 year old wrote that?! I’m much “older” and I don’t think I can write anything that thoughtful and poignant. Well done!! And good for you knowing when a good time to give her adult feedback. Sometimes it’s hard to know when the appropriate time is.
But you’re right…they’re just shorter people with less experience. =) Tell your daughter to keep writing! She’s great.
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