Nobody, Everybody and Somebody

I completed one of my ED&R visits left over from last session with Catherine Jack, HT St Gabriel's RC Primary School.

In what was a wide ranging discussion we got onto useful advice for parents.

Catherine gives the following advice to new parents at here school and I really like them.

Her advice is that parents should never allow their children to use the terms "Nobody", "Everbody" and "Somebody" For example,

"Nobody else's parents says they have to do that"

"Everybody else gets to wear these to school" and

"Somebody said it was alright to do it"

Parents are under immense pressure from their children to let them do "stuff" and children use this knowledge to heap on the pressure with comments like this above. Parents need to know that it's acceptable to say no to their kids - in fact in my experience they really apreciate it years later when they were able to stand up to peer group pressure by blaming their parents.

Some parents want to be "pals" with their children and feel that it's best to giveway - we need to share the knowledge that we can still retain the respect of our children and still say no.

P.S. smart kids start to use "anybody" as substitute for "everybody" - that's out too!