Paying it Forward...

I was given a gift by my parents whilst coming up that you might wish to pass along to your kids as well.

My Dad was a salesman, and a damn fine one.  And my Mom was an English teacher in her early years in a small, one-room country schoolhouse, where she taught kids 5 - 12.  Yes, there really were one-room schoolhouses back then, and she was a part of it.

So I was predisposed to being a pretty good talker, and also to being proficient in how to use the language effectively at a very young age.

And just to insure I had all the tools I needed to find my way in the world, Dad and Mom tied my weekly allowance to learning the language!  They actually required me to learn 10 new words from the Webster's Dictionary every week, starting with "A," including how to spell them and use them effectively and properly in a sentence.  No $cash without the formal test.  Every Friday Mom would set me down and ask me for the answers.  And I had to provide them or I didn't get my allowance.  And yes, there were a few times when I blew off learning the words and had no money to go to the movies with friends.

They were serious.

And the result?  This started when I was in the 4th grade, however old that made me.  Mrs. Mowery's class, as I recall.  Dad said something like, "Boy, come on over here (Missouri, remember).  We're gonna' start a new deal here, and you're gonna' love it.  Especially if you want to get your $0.75 cents allowance"  Yeah, Dad, love it.  

And trust me, I eventually did.  I learned to have a repertoire of what my English professor in college guessed at 250,000 words.  And considering that the average person with a college degree has some 50,000 to fall back on, I have a decided advantage in expressing my opinions.  My desires, my beliefs, my goals and dreams and demands.  I can reach down and extract the exact right word for the exact right circumstance.  And there have been many, many occasions when that capability was the difference between winning and losing.  Between getting my way...or being left by the wayside.

And you do not want that.

People, you have it within your power to give your children a quiver full of conversational "arrows."  Those who know me know about my "talent."  It's not a talent.  It's a learned skill, just like jiu jitsu or painting or driving a race car (used to do that do!).  And if you learn this skill well, your kids will have a leg up on the competition.  The ones who want to eat their lunch...

It's a gift worth more than money.  And it costs you nothing  but your time, and your commitment.  It's a skill, a talent, and a forcefield you can offer your kids they cannot get any other way.  My folks armed me with the tools I needed.  Ask yourself, do you know anyone who cannot converse effectively who has succeeded in our society?  No you don't.  And neither do  I.  Don't include your children among them. 

Now then, I always promised myself I'd pass that along to my fellow Patriots, and now I have...