Sigh. The self-esteem movement just keeps rolling on:
AP) -- Penny Grossman cringes each time a student mentions a birthday party during class at her Boston, Massachusetts-area preschool. The rule there, and at a growing number of America's schools, is that parties and play-dates shouldn't be discussed unless every child in the room is invited.
Gone are the days when a kindergartner dropped a handful of party invites in the classroom cubbyholes of their closest buddies. Today, if anyone is excluded the invitations can't be handed out at school.
The critics of such nonsense, who at least seem to be growing in number, correctly point out that protecting children from every hurt and slight will send them out into the real world woefully unprepared for the challenges they will face. Learning how to deal with adversity, including emotional setbacks, helps us grow and develop.
I remember many parties during my school year to which I was not invited. When sides were chosen up for games, I was chosen last, if at all. When cards were passed around on Valentine's Day, I often had the fewest in the room. I could have dwelled on these slights and obsessed over them until I became a dark and brooding person. But I used them as an opportunity to understand myself and my relationships with others, and it helped me become a thoughtful, centered person who is able to discern the logical course through the chaos around me. That's why I'm able to do this blog, helping you sort through complicated issues and think about them clearly, not that you've ever thanked me for it. Here I sit, day after day, typing my fingers to the bone for you, and what thanks do I get? Did you ever once think of WRITING or making a simple PHONE CALL? When I think of all the dates I've passsed up just to be here for all you rotten INGRATES . . .
...Sorry about that.
