This past December our family started a new tradition around the nightly dinner table.  We spend the usual time discussing our days, but we center the talk around our personal successes.  Each member of the family takes a moment to share their most successful part of the day.  I am the official recorder because we keep track of them in a journal.  I think it will be fun to look back through the journal years from now to see what my then adult children considered a success when they were 13 and 10.

My hope is for the boys’ successes to eventually reflect how they helped others be successful that day.  I try my best to model that style each evening when it is my turn to share.  Right now the successes mostly focus on getting a good grades, having fun at a sleep over, or getting high score on an Xbox game.  Every once in a while, however, I get to hear about how they helped someone out who was in need.

Do I have a success to share tonight?

I think I will share how I helped a student understand how to appropriately deal with someone who makes them angry.  I did this through modeling.  I walked away from a situation which made me the angriest I have felt in a long time.  I’m usually a strong person, but when I am infuriated I tend to cry.  I hate for people to see me cry, but today, for the first time ever, I let a student see me cry.

Crying may not be allowed in baseball, but it’s okay in the principal’s office.