Adjusting Goals

 For many of us, myself included, the spring can be a time to adjust some goals that have gotten a little off the mark.  Often, I hear people compare goal setting, and the steps necessary for meeting those goals, to the adjustment of angles in spaceflight (I hang out with very geeky people). 

In particular the science of fluid dynamics had already predicted how a space-craft traveling at a certain velocity would interact with the upper reaches of the Earth's atmosphere. It showed that there was a relatively small range of angles at which the spacecraft could safely re-enter the atmosphere. Too steep and the craft would burn up. Too shallow and the craft would, as you say, "bounce" off just as a skimming stone at the right angle can bounce off water. In between and, as Goldilocks would say, it is "just right" although you still need heat shields to deal with the heat generated (mostly from compressing the gas ahead of the spacecraft).**

This is a great visual image, the idea of our students a space explorers and their goal to make it back to earth (or to a distant planet).  However, the good news is that it is fairly inaccurate.  Our children do not risk being lost in the void of space nor do they risk incineration.  The true risk is that they will take a bit longer, or perhaps a lot longer, to master something.  Or they may not master it at all, and that is actually not the end of the world.  Very few of us are polymaths like Leonardo Da Vinci, who will do absolutely EVERYTHING well.  Similarly, no one will be bad at everything.  We will, like most other humans, be a little off balance in terms of what we are really successful at and what we source out to others.

It is ok to fail.  It is ok to just be ok.  

So in setting and adjusting goals, here is some advice (with the understanding that I am on this journey as well)...

As you look at what has been covered and what has not, make a list of priorities, not for your child's schooling but for their life.  What do you feel they need to know before they leave your house.  I call that the "tool box for life".  Make sure some of these things are getting to them.  

Allow your child time to focus on developing strengths in what they love.  Let them be extravagant.  Let them see how good they can get.

And for the things that get left to last, glossed over, hidden under the couch and fought over...manage your time and, if I may say the most heretical thing a teacher can say, let them do their best even if it is a C.  It's ok.  They won't burn up in the atmosphere I promise.

**Note:  If your child is becoming an aeronautical engineer with a specialty in space, they probably do need to be worried about this.  The good news is that they have time to work on it.