Validation

At about this time each day I pull out my list of blog topics (that continues to grow) with the intent of selecting a topic for the day. As I was about to do this today, my E-mail alert went off – informing me that I had a message in my inbox. The message that I received was from a parent who attended last night’s “New Parent/Student Orientation” and in an instant I found yet another topic – which is the subject of tonight’s post.

The parent who wrote to me expressed her satisfaction with our school – which is why she decided to use the School Choice program to come to Mahar from another community. The line of her E-mail that really struck me was, “We are school of choicing our daughter to Mahar because of the caring people and the commitment that we have seen in Mahar's educational community.” I have to say that it is delightful to receive unsolicited messages such as these. When reading this, I am reminded that the hard work of our administrators and faculty is paying off for our students and their families.

So often in schools, administrators and teachers only hear from parents when there is a problem or dissatisfaction about some event. Usually when the phone rings, when the E-mail alert goes off, or when a parent is standing in the office there is a need to resolve some type of conflict. Now that I think about it, this is true outside of schools as well. How often do we go out of our way to tell some person that what he or she is doing is special, how valuable people are in their roles, or provide encouragement for others to continue doing those things we deem “good?”

Earlier this summer Mrs. Ramon (our high school adjustment counselor) told me about a video on You Tube.com that is called “Validation.” It is approximately 15 minutes in duration, and the message that it provides viewers is worth the time. I have posted the link to this video below, and I hope that you will take the time to watch and listen to it. This short film has been viewed more than 2,000,000 times on YouTube, and it has earned the coveted “5 Star” rating.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao