The Genius in Children eBook Rick Ackerly
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Parents have thousands of questions. How can we learn from them? What should we do when Isaac won’t get up in the morning? When Mattie keeps getting into trouble? What about dyslexia and the dreaded ADHD? How do we help Ellen stand up to peer pressure?
What if our children are harassed? What if their report cards or their test scores are disappointing? What if the homework looks too easy? Too hard? What if they fail? What do you do when your child comes home and says, “Nobody will play with me!” or “The science teacher doesn’t know how to teach!”?
What do you do if you hear from another parent that your child is being picked on by the teacher—and your child has said nothing about it? What if your son starts getting interested in boys—and vice versa?
What do you do when your son starts using language or behavior you know he never learned at home? When your children try to play you and your partner off against each other? How do you get Marilyn to clean up her room or to do her homework? How do you get Wayne to obey you?
Thousands.
But very few such questions have generic answers that are any good, because people are different and each relationship is unique. Hence, this is a book of moments in the lives of children, their parents, and their teachers. These are stories of unique characters in action. They do, however, illuminate some of the principles of education and some of the disciplines we need to be good stewards of our children’s genius.
The Genius in Children eBook Rick Ackerly
I've already recommended The Genius in Children to every young parent I know. As the mother of four grown children, I found myself saying "so true" with every chapter. As a professional in the leadership/bullying prevention field, I found myself saying, "Every adult who takes care of kids in some capacity -- principal, parent, teacher, aunt, uncle, coach, school psychologist, mentor -- should read this book." It's wonderful insights will make your job more fulfilling, hopeful and successful and will help children blossom under your care.Product details
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The Genius in Children eBook Rick Ackerly Reviews
What I most appreciate about Rick Ackerly's perspective in The Genius in Children, is his clear understanding and respect for kids. He knows that THEY know an awful lot about who they are and what sparks their interest and imagination. Schools do their best for students when they provide each child with the inspiration and tools to construct a path toward their own unlimited future. Parents best serve their kids by doing the same. The Genius of Children is a powerful reminder and resource for adults who live and work with kids, that we must help them see their own light and make it shine brightly.
The accounts and learnings in The Genius in Children are so deep and layered, you feel in your bones Rick Ackerly's forty years of teaching kids and parents how to grow their brilliance. This book, and Rick, have so much heart and wisdom, you'll not only read their words gratefully, you'll return to them again and again. This just might be the only book on parenting you'll ever need.
--Rebecca Lawton, author of Reading Water Lessons from the River (Capital Discoveries)
Don't let the word "genius" in the title mislead you. Rick Ackerly's book, The Genius in Children, is not about children with "extraordinary intellectual power" - the definition you might find in the dictionary. He does not suggest that all children are geniuses. Instead, Rick returns to a lesser used definition of genius "the tutelary spirit of a person, place or institution." He makes the case that each child has a genius, a spirit, spark, or as Rick call it, "a unique me that is becoming." By nurturing that genius, we can help children to "maximize their potential academically, socially, physically, and personally."
Reading Ackerly's book resembles a conversation with the author himself. The Genius in Children is full of engaging personal stories from Ackerly's forty-plus years as a teacher, principal, and parent of young children and young adults. Each of these stories illuminates the underlying values of the book which include personal responsibility and accountability, self-discipline, perseverance, and resilience. His primary message is that parents and teachers who display these characteristics and provide children with an environment that offers space for self-discovery will end up with adult children who are also responsible, disciplined, resilient, self-reliant, and who know their own genius.
Rick Ackerly is in the same camp as Wendy Mogul, author of Blessings of a Skinned Knee, and "Free Range Kids" blogger Lenore Skenazy in his belief that children need to be allowed to take risks, make mistakes, chart their own paths, and self-advocate without the constant intervention of well-meaning but meddlesome adults. In addition, he provides clarity on how parents and teachers can divide and conquer rather than duplicate the roles they play in kids lives. Parents should be parents. Teacher should be teachers. Children should be children with their own authority. Rick adamantly tells the adults to "play position."
The Genius in Children deserves to be on schools' recommended reading lists for parents and teachers not because Ackerly shares groundbreaking new insights on children, but because his book is filled with common sense, experience and a deep understanding of the relationships between adults and children. In a world of increasingly anxious, hovering parents, this book reminds readers to back off, give children some space and authority to make their own decisions, to fail, make mistakes, to succeed on their own, and discover their genius.
What about the members of the administrative team? Yes, this is a read for them as well. This book is as much about leadership as anything else. Knowing when to act, when to speak, or when to do nothing at all - these are essential skills for all leaders. Having the self-discipline and insight to know when to take action or when to not engage - these are challenges for parents, teachers or leaders of any sort. But skilled leaders balance this tension.
This week at a birthday party, all of the messages of Ackerly's book played out before my very eyes. I watched as my son's school classmate clocked my child, hard, in the head. I didn't see what had transpired before the punch, but my son is no angel, so I assumed there had been some provocation. My son came charging towards me crying. The parent of the other child rushed towards us, dragging his son behind him. "Apologize!" he demanded. There was a part of me that wanted to hear the child apologize, but another part of me that wanted to see what would happen if I "played position" and let the kids work it out - gave them the authority to decide what happened next. I poured them each a cup of lemonade and said, "It seems like you two have been making some bad choices with your bodies. Can you work it out?" They each whimpered, took the lemonade and nodded reluctantly. By the time the lemonade had reached their lips, they were back to playing as if nothing had happened. It might not have been the resolution that most parents would have liked to see, one that included "talking it out" or exchanging apologies or "learning lessons," but it was the resolution that made sense to them. They were over the argument without needing to exchange messages, hug, accept blame or follow the decorum that adults might impose on them. It was one of many "Rick Ackerly" moments I hope to have as a parent and educator.
Carla Silver, Executive Director, The Santa Fe Leadership Center
"Be obscure clearly." I can't stop thinking about E.B. White's quote.
The author found his genius in writing, and once he wrote, "I can't remember any time in my life when I wasn't busy writing."
But is genius so often spelled out like the words woven into Charlotte's Web? True magic reveals itself in mysterious ways, so why should genius be any less extraordinary?
When you allow yourself to see genius through the lens of Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, a whole new world comes to life. And it's not one that's dominated by tests and time limits.
It's a world of...play. Some of us like to play with words, some with numbers, others with music or art, and some with dance or tennis. We may not all be geniuses in the intellectual sense of the word ( and this type of genius needs to be nurtured just like any other type of genius), but we all have a spark - something unique within us - that is a gift waiting to be shared with others.
Some of us never discover that gift, but that shouldn't stop us from helping our children to find theirs. How can we do that, when the clues might not exactly be spelled out for us?
Well, according to Rick Ackerly, author of The Genius in Children Bringing out the best in your child, we need to "treat children as if they know what they're doing." Instead of rushing in to teach, we should watch, listen, and follow their leads. See what they come up with on their own before we rush in to solve a problem for them. It makes a lot of sense to me. As a matter of fact, I wish more teachers would follow this philosophy as well.
According to Rick, who has been guiding children as a principal and father for many years, a parent's role is not to teach in the traditional sense of the word, but to enjoy learning along with their children. Instead of trying to teach academic skills, parents should share books and real life learning experiences. I love when he states that the one thing parents should do is to "read to their children every evening before they go to bed." It doesn't mean they should try to teach reading skills. It's more important to make reading a fun, enjoyable, and memorable experience.
In Rick's view, parents should act more like air traffic controllers than hovering helicopters. Give them freedom, but make sure they arrive and depart safely. Let them take responsibility for their words, choices, actions, and mistakes. Let them figure out who they are on their own terms, and without pressure to "succeed," or to fill anyone's dreams but their own.
Rick raises an important point that "We make a mistake every time we take responsibility for something children can handle themselves." As parents, we forget that doing nothing is in fact a choice, and sometimes the best one we could ever make. Sometimes, we pass on our anxiety by stepping in before we give our children a chance to solve their own problems. He refers to a very interesting and relevant (even though it was published back in 2004) Psychology Today article, entitled A Nation of Wimps, by Hara Estroff Marano.
What I like most about The Genius in Children is the anecdotes the author shares, which come from his extensive experience as a father and educator. He sheds light on what it takes to help a child to not only unlock the rainbow which lies within, but to be proud of what makes him unique. When we celebrate and delight in our differences, that's when we will truly shine.
So, E.B. White spent a lot of his time writing. It would seem his parents did not have a hard time figuring out what his genius was. It was plain for them to see. It isn't that easy for most parents, though, is it? We have our children trying out all sorts of extracurricular activities, and taking all these AP tests, but where is it all leading? Are we missing clues because we're so immersed in all that busyness? I know the movie, Race to Nowhere, is coming out soon, and is about this very issue. It's not playing in many theaters, though, so I may not get to see it anytime soon. Please let me know if you do!
The road to discovering genius certainly is not a straight, paved highway. We try so hard to lead our children to the road of success, often eliminating any obstacles in their path; but in doing so, it's quite possible that we're taking away the magic.
The magic is in the ambiguity. Think of it not as a hurdle to jump over, but as the final piece of the great puzzle of life. One day, it might just pop up in front of you just as a rainbow would. Just make sure you're on the look out for it. You wouldn't want to be looking the other way, and miss out in it completely.
Remember to look closely at those cobwebs before you brush them away! And never forget the words of E.B. White "Be obscure clearly."
I've already recommended The Genius in Children to every young parent I know. As the mother of four grown children, I found myself saying "so true" with every chapter. As a professional in the leadership/bullying prevention field, I found myself saying, "Every adult who takes care of kids in some capacity -- principal, parent, teacher, aunt, uncle, coach, school psychologist, mentor -- should read this book." It's wonderful insights will make your job more fulfilling, hopeful and successful and will help children blossom under your care.
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