Too Much Fun for Their Own Good
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Should school always be fun and engaging in order for our children to learn?
Now, I've been a teacher for 25 years, and I love school. I love teaching children. I love it when they're engaged, and I do my very best to make learning inspiring, thoughtful, and enjoyable. However, I want to give a word of caution to moms who feel like they have to make everything fun all the time.
In my earlier days I felt that same pressure. I was talking with my mom about it one day. Having taught school for 40 years herself, she said, "Honey, you need to be careful that you don't get caught in the rat race of trying to do a song and a dance to entertain the children in order for them to learn."
You know what? She was right. I had gotten caught in that rat race, and it wore me out.
Let's be honest with ourselves and our children. Life just isn't a song and a dance every day. There are certain parts of life that are not fun or engaging, and we need to teach our children how to work diligently and hard whether their senses are scintillated or not. They need to learn to strive to do their best without the carrot of entertainment.
I'm not against making things fun and engaging. I just don't think "fun" should be the goal.
There are certain subjects — and this is different for each child — that are simply not fascinating or appealing. An analogy of the seasons of the year comes to mind. We have our summers, and we love them — swimming, kayaking, hiking, four-wheeling. But summer is not the only season. We also have fall, winter, and spring. If you live where it is summer year-round, you also have snakes, bugs, and animals you might rather not see. The vast majority of us have seasons, and the same is true with school. There are times when it is fun and engaging, and there are times when it is just hard work — nothing scintillating, nothing to grab our attention. We just have to do it.
We also need to teach our children the value of doing something whether it is fun or not. Don't let yourself get caught in the trap of thinking, "My kid doesn't like it so I can't do it." Think about math. Some kids love math, but for the vast majority of children, math is not a joyous subject. For many it is straight-up boring. I'm not going to paint it over like "Wow, our family just loves math, and so should yours." Be thankful when they do, but don't have unrealistic expectations if they don't.
I'm honest with my kids. I validate their feelings of boredom on any given subject, but I also tell them that while they might not like it, while it might not thrill them, they still have to do the hard work and get it done. It is a part of life, and you want your children to face the realities of life without expecting to be entertained constantly.
Look down the road a little way. What happens when they go to college and have to write a paper on a topic that bores them to tears? What happens when their boss gives them an ordinary, mindless job that still needs to be done? Should they give up? Walk out? We should not indulge that insatiable desire for the next thrill that never satisfies. Instead, we should teach our children to learn without doing a song and a dance and a jig at every step.
Don't throw it all out and make school boring for the sake of teaching a life lesson — but don't get caught making everything super fun either. Sprinkle it like the seasons of the year. Make sure some of it is entertaining and engaging. Some of it you don't have to make boring — it just is. Then there are some subjects that are simply okay. Just like we don't change the seasons, don't try to change every subject to fit the summer of fun. Accept it for what it is and teach your children to work through it no matter what.