The (Home)School of Proactivity

If you asked me what the number one most important quality for a person to possess in order to be wildly successful in any area of life, I wouldn’t say it was book smarts.

I wouldn’t say it was discipline.

I wouldn’t say it’s attention to detail.

I wouldn’t even say it’s focus.

Those are all important.

But in my experience, being proactive is THE MOST IMPORTANT QUALITY for a person to possess.

Stephen Covey agrees. He’s the author The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, and the first habit he writes about?

Proactivity.

This is why Number 4 has accomplished what she’s accomplished in her fourteen years on the planet.

She doesn’t wait for anything.

She just makes it happen.

So today in homeschool, Number 6 and 7 worked on proactivity.

I worked on something else…

I’ll get to that in a minute.

This morning Number 7 asked if we could put the big blow up Santas in the front yard today.

I told her we could.

And by we, I meant her.

So she and Number 6 took the bull by the horns.

They dragged the bins up from the basement.

They untangled the cords that keep the Santas in place, plugged in the extension cords and they set everything up.

When they ran out of the little metal hook things that you attach the strings to, to keep everything upright, they found some wood and made their own wooden stakes.

They tied the strings around them and smashed the the stakes into the ground with a hammer.

The didn’t pick up the hammers or put them away.

I guess we’ll make that part of next week’s curriculum.

But they did a pretty good job for a 9 and 10-year-old who have never done this before.

The thing I said I worked on?

I had a really hard time with two Santas being right next to each other.

“Don’t you think maybe we should move one of the Santas somewhere else?” I asked them.

I MEAN, WHAT KIND OF ANIMAL PUTS TWO SANTAS RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER???

“No, Mom! We like it this way!” they said in unison.

So Big Santa and Little Santa will stay next to each other this year.

Five or ten years ago there is no way in hell I would allow this.

But now?

Well, first of all, I don’t want to discourage their proactivity by being critical and controlling.

Secondly, who really gives a shit.

Thirdly, they were really proud of themselves.

And so was I.

So Rudolph and the Santas have been put up.

And now we have officially entered the season of continuously fixing, adjusting, and re-standing the blow up Christmas decorations in the front yard.