Explore the fascinating impact of parental expectations on children's development. The discussion highlights Frederick Douglass as a powerful example of resilience and self-motivation. Learn why believing in your kids' abilities can help them rise to challenges. It's about instilling confidence and teaching them that they can figure things out for themselves. If a slave in the 1800s could teach himself to read, imagine what your child can achieve with the right expectations!
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Douglass's Vocabulary
Thomas Sowell highlighted the irony of annotated Frederick Douglass memoirs for high schoolers.
Douglass, a slave in the 1800s, had a larger vocabulary than many students today.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Foster Independence
Don't coddle your children; let them struggle and figure things out independently.
Teach them that "everything is figureoutable" to empower their learning.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
High Expectations
Set high expectations for your children; assume they are capable.
Encourage and inspire them to try, and they will rise to the occasion.
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The writer Thomas Sowell once noted, sardonically, how sad it is that editions of Frederick Douglass’s memoirs, when provided for high school students, were forced to provide annotated definitions of many words. What does it say, he asked, that a slave in the 1800s was able—under the penalty of severe violence—to teach himself a vocabulary that privileged high school students cannot manage after a hundred and fifty years of progress? And what does it say that we have to spoon feed them the answers to these vexing problems—how could they possibly look up a word without our help!—instead of expecting them to figure it out themselves?
But it’s also important that, as a father, you provide the expectation that they are capable of doing things. If you treat your kid like a helpless idiot...they’ll stay one. If you assume that certain ideas are beyond their comprehension, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Your kids will not learn that which you expect them not to be able to learn. Equally, they will grow and strive and struggle to meet the expectations you do have.
If Frederick Douglass could do it, your kid can definitely do it. He had to fear for his life. He had not only to steal time to read, he had to steal books and newspapers too. Your children have far more advantages. So expect, encourage, inspire them to seize this. Expect great things from them, expect progress, but most of all, expect them to try.
The Daily Dad