Thought of the Day 08.26.08

In what can only be described as good parenting and culture propagation, I have successfully introduced my children to Star Wars. Because they love it Danielle recently bought a pair of sippy cups, one with Yoda and the other with Darth Vader. Well, at four years old, Spencer is well beyond sippy cups, but his love for the movie overcomes him whenever we give Ethan the Vader cup and he earnestly asks for the Yoda one.

So, the other morning, I inadvertently grabbed the Yoda cup for Ethan’s milk. I was about to get the Vader one so Spencer wouldn’t be upset, but then I decided to go ahead. I thought it would be a good opportunity to provoke Spencer and then instruct him about not being too attached to things. Rather than shielding him from his own character issues, I was hoping to bring them to the surface so he could work on them.

In the end, he never said anything, which indicated that he was better off than I suspected, at least in this instance. It’s good to take advantage of teachable moments, but it’s sometimes even more useful to manufacture them. We are teachers, after all.