Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #896 And The Award Goes To... Not You

Transcript

#896 And The Award Goes To... Not You · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast. It's the podcast for the.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Time poor parent who just wants answers.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Now, Well, it's that time of the year. We've got
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: kids going to awards, nights, assemblies, or the end of
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: year's ceremonies. Whether they're in primary school or high school,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: whether you're in a private school, Catholic school, a Christian school,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: a public school, this is the time of the year
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: where schools reflect and reward what's gone well during the year. Kylie,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: we have sat through so many of these with our
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: six kids over the years, and it's kind of natural
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: when you see all the other kids walking up on
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the stage to get their merit awards and their badges
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: or to be awarded the prefect or school captain or
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: house captain labels to feel a little bit disappointed when
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: your kids are sitting there at the front of the
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: hall and they're not being caught up to the stage,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: and it's disappointing not just for us as parents, but
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: it's also disappointing for the kids, Like you can see
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: it on their faces. They're craving the recognition that their
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: peers or some of their peers are getting, and they're
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: not getting it today, I want to talk about this
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: particular issue.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: I remember when our eldest children were young, we had
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: a lot of awards. Back in those early days, they
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: were recognized for lots of different things, and I won't lie,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: it was really nice.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Feels nice.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Just seeing my kid up there feels nice. And as
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: more kids came along, less awards. Became a parent and
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: I wonder whether those wards are more about the parents'
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: participation in their children's lives or whether it is actually
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: about the kids. But regardless, I think as our ideas
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: around education and awards and all of that has changed
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: over the years, it's less of a pinch point for me.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: I kind of find those award nights quite hollow in
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: lots of ways because there is such a limited scope
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: to what we are celebrating in our children, and academics
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: is such a small, teeny tiny part of who our
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: children are, and there's only so many awards that go out.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: So when I look at an awards night, often we
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: attend and there'll be maybe two, three, four kids who
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: just seem to be up getting every award. And as
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: I've sat there and I've looked at it, it's occurred
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: to me that out of a school of two thousand kids,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: you're trying to tell me that four or five kids
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: are the only kids working really hard. It just doesn't
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: sit with me.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Well, I want to run through a couple of things
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: that kind of get under my skin around these awards ceremonies,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: and I'm going to be pretty blunt about it and
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: use research science to support what I'm saying. But then
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: I think we also have to acknowledge that the system
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: is what it is. It's not going to change well
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: in most schools, most places, and so therefore we need
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: as parents to be equipped to know how to help
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: our children to handle the disappoint that they experienced when
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: they don't receive an award, especially if they thought that
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: they might have been in with a shot. And by
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: the same token, how we can deal with our own
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: disappointment when we thought our kids might have been within
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: a shot and they didn't get it, and we're kind
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: of going, yeah, let's smile while everyone else and clapped
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: for everyone else's kids and nothing happens. So I've got
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: some problems with rewards generally, and this actually happened for
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: us just recently. I haven't told you this or not
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: so this is a scoop on air. We were nominated
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: for the second year in a row to win the
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Best Parenting Podcast in Australia Award at the recent Australian
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Podcast Awards, and for the second year in a row,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: we were one of the top finalists, but we missed
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: out on the gold that went to somebody else. And
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: part of me is just going why, Like, we do
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: a really great podcast and people really like the podcast,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: and we get lots and lots of downloads and we
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: get so much great feedback, and it's about that. This
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: is the problem with rewards. It shifted me when I
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: found out that we were finalist again and didn't make
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: it again. Shifted me away from the focus of what
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: I'm really trying to achieve with this podcast, and it
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: has nothing to do with winning an award. The award
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: is so we don't sit here and think how can
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: we win an award?
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  Speaker 2: Well, as you're telling me this, you told me that
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  Speaker 2: we'd be nominated, and it kind of went in one
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  Speaker 2: air and out the other because it doesn't really matter.
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  Speaker 2: It's not going to change the way we do things.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: So I haven't been waiting with pated breath to find
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: out whether or not we actually made it through or not.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about some of the problems with rewards. Number one.
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  Speaker 1: I'm actually going to make the argument that rewards are
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  Speaker 1: a punishment in and of themselves to the other ninety
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: nine percent. So rewards a mutually exclusive Not everybody can
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: get one. And of course we have a culture where
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: if everybody does get a participation trophy, if everybody does
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: get a prize, everyone really gets upset about that. It's like, no,
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  Speaker 1: we can only reward excellence, we can't reward mediocrity. And
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: so because awards by their very nature are exclusive, what
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: happens is that they start to feel more like a
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: punishment for everybody else. They really appeal to the top
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: one percent or the top two percent, or whatever it
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: might be. Like you said, you've got a school of
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: hundreds or even thousands of kids, and it's the same
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: ten kids across the school that are scooping up all
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: of the awards and winning everything. There are so many
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: solid performers that are overlooked, and I think this has
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: a really significant impact on motivation for both those who
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: are the high achievers but also those who are not
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: getting the awards. It's very very rare that a student
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: goes I didn't get the award, but next year, I'm
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: gonna get it. I'm going to do everything I can.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: I'm going to make sure that it's me next year. Granted,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: some do, but the vast majority don't. The vast majority
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: feel dispirited because they can't compete with the cool kids,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: or the smart kids, or the sporty kids, or the
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: humanitarian award kids who just seem to know how to
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: inject themselves into the community and do good things well.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: And not only that, they actually know what effort they've
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: put in themselves better than anyone else does. Teachers are amazing,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: absolutely amazing, hands down doing it such a good job,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: but their perspective.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Is different, and they can't possibly be expected to know
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: everything that's exactly wrong. Ought to be able to measure
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: effectively the degree of difficulty required for a student to
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: get to a certain level. So this brings me to
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: the two other main points that I wanted to make. Okay,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: So number one, there's the impact on relationships. So the
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: kids who aren't getting the awards, they often not always,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: but often we'll look at the kids who are getting
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: the awards and there can be a little bit of
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: tall poppy syndrome, a little bit of sour grapes, our gripes,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: whatever it is. They're sort of looking at the kids
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: and going, oh, they're just so much better. And relationships
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: can feel uncomfortable, especially when competitiveness is brought into it,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: but also feeling judged by teachers, whether we want it
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: to happen or not. A side effect can be that
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: kids can feel like the teacher doesn't get them, and
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  Speaker 1: the relationships can really be harmed. Furthermore, relationships can be
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: harmed at home when parents are saying, but you just
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: need to work harder, and then parents start to push
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: the kids and the kids start to rebel. So rewards
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  Speaker 1: and awards and I'm not saying this happens universally, but
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: they can really backfire in relationships. But picking up even
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: more on the theme that we've kind of I guess
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: has threaded everything that you and I both said. Ultimately,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: rewards and awards are ignoring reasons. So why is it
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  Speaker 1: that there are a handful of kids or a handful
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  Speaker 1: of families that pick up all of the awards at
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  Speaker 1: the end of the year. It could be because they're
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: just naturally talented. Some families just have sporting genes or
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: math's brains, or academic orientations some families. There is there
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: is a very clear relationship between income, having resources and time,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: and children doing well at school. We know from napland
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  Speaker 1: tests that you can tell which schools are going to
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  Speaker 1: do well and which schools aren't going to do well
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  Speaker 1: on napland not by the quality of the teachers, but
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  Speaker 1: by the post code the school is in. There's simply
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: a relationship between income and education standards. It exists. It's undeniable.
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  Speaker 1: It's really not very politically correct to say it, but
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  Speaker 1: it's the reality, and so all the kids that are
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: getting the awards, especially when we're seeing the same families
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  Speaker 1: represented quite often and again not always, but quite often,
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  Speaker 1: this is a reflection of socioeconomic status, finances, resources, much
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  Speaker 1: more than it's a reflection of children's natural ability or
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: what's happening in the education process. Furthermore, other reasons that
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: might be overlooked. We might be rewarding tiger parenting well.
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  Speaker 2: I was about to say, there's enough anecdotal evidence over
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: the years of children who've achieved greatness but at the
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: cost of their relationships right with their parents because there
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: was never a choice that they wouldn't succeed.
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  Speaker 1: So these rewards and awards might actually just be reinforcing
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  Speaker 1: perfectionism on the part of either the parents or the
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: students or both, and so they might concerns with rewards.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: There's some of my consents. There are more, but in
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: this podcast we don't have time to go through all
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: of them. Nevertheless, awards knights are going to continue in
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  Speaker 1: spite of Doctor Justin Colson's concerns about them and preference
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  Speaker 1: for us to not do them.
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  Speaker 2: So my question is, then, is it okay to acknowledge excellence?
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  Speaker 1: I love this question and the answer is yeah. But
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  Speaker 1: the key word is acknowledge okay. And there's also developmental
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  Speaker 1: reality to this. So when children are younger, they do
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: a lot less well around the idea of awards and rewards,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: and it really can affect them. It can affect their
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: identity confect it really really affect the way they see
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: themselves as either being a loser, or being a smart kid,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: or being a sporty kid, or being an unco kid,
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  Speaker 1: or like kids put these names and way worse things
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: than what I've just said on themselves when they either
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: do or don't get the awards. So, from a developmental perspective,
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  Speaker 1: once kids get into their mid teens, the much more
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: neurologically and emotionally ready to understand how this stuff works.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: But bringing this into earlier childhood, I'm saying sort of
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: eleven or twelve and under, particularly primary school, there's just
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: no place for it. I don't think that it should
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: be there at all. Second thing you've said, is it
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: okay to acknowledge excellence? There's a difference between acknowledging excellence
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  Speaker 1: and rewarding excellence, and to me, the word acknowledge is
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: critical here. Is it okay to acknowledge excellence? Absolutely it is.
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  Speaker 1: It's okay to celebrate and be delighted about it. What's
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: even better, though, is to get the kids to acknowledge
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: it themselves so that they can see how they're progressing
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: and learning. Once we start bringing rewards in, we've moved
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: from not just acknowledging excellence but lifting it up and
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: creating a sense of exclusivity around it. And if we
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: can't get everybody else to that same level, I think
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: we have a problem. This is why I'm a big
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: fan of competency based education, because what we're saying is
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: we're not so interested in people being absolutely excellent right now.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: We just want everybody to know how to do this
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: stuff and to be able to enjoy it, whether it's learning, reading, math, sports,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Let's just go and enjoy the process.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: So I guess the question is, if we recognize that
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: the system's not going to change, we're going to have,
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: on a yearly basis, the vast majority of kids disappointed
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: because they're either not recognized or they feel harshly done
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: by because they've worked really really hard and should be
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: standing up there and being recognized and or not. So,
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: as parents, how do we navigate their disappointment and probably
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: sometimes ours?
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: So before I share, I've got five things and I'm
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: going to wiz through five things in like two minutes.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: But before I do that, what have you specifically done
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: with our kids when perhaps I haven't been there because
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: I've been giving a talk somewhere, or they've come to
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: you and they've been disappointed themselves.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to be completely honest, I actually don't
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: think that we've had a huge amount of disappointment in
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: our home in relation to this, And I think it's
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: primarily because we have not put the emphasis on awards
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: and rewards. What I feel we've been able to do
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: is foster a love of learning in our home and
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: encouragement of our kids working to their level of capacity
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: in any moment. There's an acknowledgment that from week to week,
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: month to month, our capacity changes based on whatever's happening
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: within our lives.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: And I guess they've heard me talk for so many
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: years about how education does matter, but how you perform
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: at school isn't the most important thing in your life.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: So what I've loved is even when the kids haven't
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: done as well as they would have hoped or wanted to,
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: they've been able to celebrate the fact that that, in
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: spite of the challenges they've been experiencing in their lives,
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: that they recognize that they've done a great job for
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: them for that moment in time.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we do talk to them about this stuff a lot.
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  Speaker 1: Five things in two minutes or less that I think
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: we can do if our children are disappointed or if
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: we're disappointed. At Number one, let's make sure that we
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: act consistent with what our values are, or at least
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: what we profess our values to be. What I mean
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: by that is so. One of my favorite studies to
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: site was a Harvard study done a handful of years
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: ago where researchers asked kids, do your parents care more
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: about your grades or more about your character? And the
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: kids said grades. They asked the parents, do you care
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: more about your kids' grades or more about your kid's character?
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: And the parents said character. There's a mix up in
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: the messaging here. Parents are saying I care about your character,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: I care about who you are, I care about who
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: you're developing into. But the kids are only getting the
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: message you care about my performance at school.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: And I guess that's where the conversations we have in
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: our home are so important. Yeah, the conversations we have
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: with our kids are all about character.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Then the more we emphasize grades, the more we
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: emphasize academic outcomes, sporting outcomes, whatever it is, the more
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: we give our children the message that that's what matters.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Where our conversations are focused is where our children are
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: going to think that our values lie. Second thing, I
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: think that it's important to teach your kids to sit
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: with disappointment. That's life. Sometimes life doesn't work out well.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you just can't win everything. Sometimes you don't get
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: to be up on stage getting the applause. In fact,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: sometimes you never get to be the person who does that.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: And the conversation then is, so what does that say
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: about you?
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: I think it's even more than that. I think it's
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: why are you doing it? If the only reason our
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: children are motivated to do something is because they're going
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: to get an award at the other end, then we've
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: actually done them a disservice because the idea that the
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: learning in and of itself is the reward. We learn,
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: we grow, we improve, we develop, that that's the reward.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: And yet as a society we've actually taken that joy
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: out of learning and made it all about a piece
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: of paper.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: The third thing that I would mention is I just
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: have chat with kids about talents. We've all got them,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: what are we going to do with them? You mentioned
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: this earlier, Kylie. Schools recognize a very very very limited
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: array of talents. In fact, array is the wrong word,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: because there are so few that are recognize. It's like
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: when you watch Australia's Got Talent and everyone gets up
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: and sings like there's a whole lot more talents out
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: there than being able to sing, there's the ability to
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: appreciate art. There's the ability to create art. There's the
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: ability to design. There's the ability to speak, There's the
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: ability to feel and comfort and lead, and like the
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: list is just as long as you want it to be.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: There's all of these unique talents. School assemblies recognize a
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: handful of them, and they're not even the most important ones.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: And so talking to your kids about that and highlighting
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: what talents do you have can be tremendously powerful.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: What's ning for?
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Talk about status and recognition? What does it mean to
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: get the status and recognition? Do you want the award
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: or do you just want to be noticed? Do you
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: want to be a math's brain, do you want to
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: be a sports star or do you just want people
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: to say nice things about you? Because once we start
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: to get into that, we start again to get into motivations.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Why do you feel sad? You feel sad because you
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: didn't get the recognition, or you feel sad because you
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: worked really hard and you feel like you should have
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: but nobody noticed. We start to get into the nitty
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: gritty of this, and ultimately, I think if we can
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: help our kids to recognize that recognition like this is
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: so arbitrary and it's so much about luck and how
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: things play out. What matters is who we're becoming, not
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: how we're being recognized for it.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: Next year, no one's going to be asking about the
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: award they got last year, and in five years time,
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: it's not even going to be a consideration. Regardless of
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: how many awards you get. When you're sitting in that
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: office for an interview, you're not going to be dry
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: sharing with them that you won the Excellence Award for
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: biology in grade ten doesn't matter.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: You've stolen my fifth and final idea. And by the way,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: I said two minutes, but you keep on sharing so
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: many interruptions, so many great things that we've gone more
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: than two minutes. But I want to share this last
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: one really quickly and emphasize take the long view, which
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: is just what you've said. That's my fifth and final one.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Nobody that I know has on their Twitter profile I
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: was the Grade three swimming champion, or I was the
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Grade seven ducks or anything like that. Like the long
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: term view, None of this stuff matters. It really doesn't.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: Once you get out of school, nobody's asking the question
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: nobody's waving the flag. Nobody's looking at the trophy that
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: they got in second class and saying, oh, look at
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: how good I was as a runner in second grade.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Here's my little green ribbon or my little blue ribbon
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: for having won that race. We just don't do that
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: because as we get older and we have more perspective,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: we realize how limited this whole sphere of education is
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: in terms of living a full and whole life. So
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: we hope these five ideas been helpful in navigating the
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: end of yer assemblies and the attendant disappointment that's all
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: but guaranteed for so many families. Thanks so much for listening.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: The Happy Families podcast is produced by Justin Rollin from
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Bridge Media. Craig Bruce is our executive producer. If you'd
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: like more in fun about making your family happier, we'd
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: love for you to join us at our Facebook page
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Dr Justin Colson's Happy Families, or at happy families dot
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: com dot au.