Push Here

This evening, my wife and I were talking about education, and pushing your children.

The source of the topic was my daughter (what a surprise) who was irritated that we've been pushing her to complete her various Final Assessment Projects, some of which are due next week, and some of which are not due until May -- and who was not pleased when we pointed out that May was two weeks away. You're always pushing me, reminding me, making it sound like such a big deal! she stormed, before leaving the room. We looked at each other with the same well, I guess my work is done here look. I offered the opinion that she's tense about getting it done, and nervous about how it'll be finished. She's also likely not entirely sure how she'll get it done, and so she took it out on us. I didn't mind. It meant that she was thinking about it, and that's a good thing.

I told my wife that I didn't recall my parents ever pushing me to do better in school. Even when it must have been apparent to them that I was doing poorly, they never pushed. Likely, they didn't know what they could do to help, even though I'm sure that they wanted to. My wife said that her father had done poorly in school, and never felt, as a result, that he had the right to push her or her sisters. I didn't do well, either, I replied, but I feel as if I do have the right, and the responsibility, to push her further than she would be willing to go on her own.

I don't think I'm pushing too hard, but I'm sure that it's harder than she'd like.