It's the Little Things

Do the little things matter?

I sure hope so!

The school where I am principal is a busy place--even in the summer.  Kids and families use the playground.  Teams use our front field for soccer practice.  Our classrooms are used for camps and  music classes.  With all of this use, I probably shouldn't be surprised that our parking lot occasionally has litter on it.  This morning I discovered a very dirty sock, a used coffee cup, and a water bottle on the ground.  While it's not a big deal, I just put these items in the garbage can by our front door.

I don't share this to brag about picking up trash.  Rather, I am convinced that a clean school is harder to get dirty.  In other words, it's also easy to not pick up trash you may have dropped if you see other trash around the area.  Keeping a tidy school becomes a habit, and I would have it no other way.

What scares me is what habits our young people are learning when other seemingly little things also become habits.

  • What do our kids learn when we don't pick-up our coffee cups from the parking lots?
  • What do our young people learn when we don't keep our own rooms clean?
  • What habits do our young people learn when we get frustrated when someone cuts us off while driving and one of "those" words comes out of our mouth?
  • What habits do our kids learn when we don't eat our own vegetables?
  • What habits do our kids learn when we are "just a few minutes" late to appointments?
  • What habits do our kids learn when we don't say, "thank you" to our spouse for cooking dinner?
  • What habits do our kids learn when we don't put our own laundry away?

The list is long!

Fortunately, all of these little things can also become positive habits.  Our kids notice.  Our kids notice when we focus on the little things.  Somewhere I heard a great line, "Values are caught and not taught."   What your child values---what becomes a habit for your child---is based on the little things you do.

Here's to the little things!

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