I attended a talk by Barbara Coloroso sometime in the 80’s at my children’s school entitled, “Kids Are Worth It!”  It was one of two presentations being held, one for teachers and one for parents.  The philosophy and the particular concepts she spoke of and taught, resonated with me.  It was not punishment oriented.  Instead, it was teaching us how to find the appropriate consequences for inappropriate actions that our children displayed.  The difference between the two lectures had to do with specifics, situations that occur in the classroom and those that occur at home.

One of the things she said was, “Say what you mean.  Mean what you say.  And do what you said you were going to do.”  I can’t tell you how many times I have said these words to myself.  But I didn’t always do what these three sentences said.  I honestly wanted to be consistent, and tried, but often failed.  Still, the main thing was to apologize when I was really off the mark and try to do better.  I must say that to the extent that I was specific and clear about the consequences, it worked out very well.  Needless to say, I was a student in all this as much as they were.

The title of the presentation was “Kids Are Worth It!”  Nothing could be more true.  If we are to create a better, more kind and peaceful place to live, we need to remember that kids are worth it.  They are worth the time and energy and loving discipline that every child needs to become a responsible adult that wants to contribute to the creation of a world that can work for everyone.

People are worth it.  We start out as children who develop a worldview based on their own experiences.  If they can see what it’s like to be responsible by learning self discipline, we are all the better for it.  It is worth it, as adults, to learn these concepts for ourselves so that we can teach the next generation how to resolve conflict in a logical and peaceful way.  Nobody’s perfect.  I am certainly not.  And I have made many mistakes.  Still do.  But the important thing is to keep trying because kids are worth it, and so are we.