22 Important Beliefs I Have as a Parent and Educator

I believe in the power of education. I believe we can use education to make the world a better place. What if districts were given a report card based on compassion and empathy as opposed to a state test? What would our world look like?

I believe everything begins with our mindset.

I believe in Eudaimonia and the power of living a meaningful life.

I believe we can help raise and nurture kids to be like what Dr. Adam Grant refers to as “givers.”

I believe books should be treasured. I believe we should teach our kids to cherish books at a very young age.

I believe children must be taught the tools to develop optimism and curiosity. I believe these two are the most important skills we should pass on.

I believe we should give our children a chance to find their true autarkeia, which in Greek translates to “a mind filled with content.”

I believe we should all play to our strengths to achieve excellence. We should identify them within ourselves and our students and push them as far as we can possibly go.

I believe we need to develop calculated risk takers and reward for making a mistake after taking a well thought out chance. A synonym for mistake-making? It’s called learning. Ask Thomas Edison how many tries it took him to invent the light bulb.

I believe we should have a spot on a child’s report card for grit.

I believe we should assume absolutely nothing. We should constantly question and approach life through the lens of a researcher or scientist. We should take a page from Elon Musk, “This would be better if…”

I believe if we explored our experiences with fresh eyes, anything is possible.

I agree with Seth Godin. I believe we should teach our kids to solve interesting problems and be able to lead.

I believe a time for mindfulness should be required in schools.

I believe spending a portion of our day expressing gratitude can go a long way for our children’s future.

I am a public school teacher, but I do not believe everyone fits nicely into a box or flow chart. I believe our outlier kids could be our greatest asset and we can learn a ton from them. These are the kids who need certain supports or interventions but don’t check off enough boxes in our current system.

I believe in habits, systems and checklists. I believe that for a person wired as I am, I need these tools to help me navigate my day and help me maintain balance. I believe habits can be taught even to little ones and it will benefit them. I see it every day in my classroom. I believe I can reroute some of the DNA within me by creating positive habit loops. I believe it is all in mindset.

I believe in spirituality more than organized religion. I believe in mindfulness, meditation and karma. All three of those I have to work on. I have trouble staying in the moment, quieting my mind, and need to work on sending out more good juju.

I believe everybody should have the same rights as a white dude from suburbia like me. I believe I don’t have the right to tell people who they can or cannot love or marry or worship. As long as they are choosing kindness, we are cool.

I believe there are great people out there. Everywhere. No matter the color, orientation, geography or social status. I also believe the antithesis is also true- there are mean, disgruntled people out there. I am trying to work on being in the former group on a full-time basis because many times I have slipped into the latter group. Always something to strive for.

I believe words, spoken or written, are powerful.

I believe in “Audaces fortuna iuvat,” which in Latin is translated to mean “fortune favors the bold.”

This is the beginning of my journey to becoming bold.

I will share mistakes, lessons learned, stories and anecdotes as I search for meaning each day to become a better husband, parent, friend, and educator.

There is something to learn from everyone. I believe everyone is creative in some way.

Won’t you come along?

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