A Message from our President
Summer 2017
Hello Friend!
In my email inbox, on a daily basis, I receive well-meaning correspondence with articles about how to teach your children to be kind/creative/happy/compassionate/productive/innovative…you name it. Sometimes, the articles give me a list of actions I should take to train my child to be a leader/entrepreneur/foodie... you get the idea. Then, there is the biggie…responsibility. If my child can check off these boxes, she will be personally responsible; she will go far in life.
But, does anyone else see the disconnect? Can responsibility be instilled in someone else through a multi-point to-do list? Or is it something more intrinsic, rooted in the way we view ourselves in our world? I’m voting for the latter, and it starts with our own self-talk and how we communicate with others. This month’s article by Tim Tinnesz delves into this idea further and has made me more conscious about living qualities instead of teaching them. I hope you appreciate his reflections as well.
Don’t forget to drop me a note to stay in touch this summer and check out our calendar below.
Here’s to bask-in-the-sunshine days and campfire-worthy nights!
Sherry
________________________________________________
Current Searches
Good business comes from good referrals. If you like the work we do, please remember to pass our name along to those in need of
our services. Thank you.
Back to Top
________________________________________________
Article of the Month
Word count: 502
Approximate Reading Time: 4 Minutes
Blame vs. Responsibility: When “Me-First” is a Good Thing
by Tim Tinnesz
Headmaster, St.Timothy’s School, Raleigh NC
Originally posted in STS Head of School Blog, 3/28/17
Traffic slows to a crawl on the highway because of construction blocking the right lane, and I dutifully merge left. But then I see one car speeding down the right lane to zip in front of everyone at the last second. All of us are trying to get to work… to family… to the next exit because our child in the back seat just announced he needs to visit a restroom ASAP… and yet this guy zooming past me on the right thinks he’s special. He thinks he should be first in line. This is one of those “me-first” moments that really frustrates me (as my children in the back seat can confirm).
But there’s another, subtler kind of “me-first” (or “I-first,” technically) behavior that I’ve been thinking about lately… and I think it’s a good thing. It can start with a simple choice of how we phrase a sentence. Consider these examples:
“That test was confusing.” vs. “I was confused on that test.”
“My computer isn’t working.” vs. “I can’t get my computer to work correctly.”
Each of those pairs of sentences basically conveys the same fact, but how we choose to phrase it—what comes first in the sentence—can have a big impact on whether we’re inclined towards blame or responsibility.
“That test was confusing” can pretty quickly lead to “My teacher doesn’t know how to make tests,” or “The study guide didn’t prepare me well,” or “My teacher never taught me that material.” It’s about blame. Sometimes blame can feel reassuring. “It’s not MY fault.”
If I'm honest, I have to admit that I'm often instinctively drawn towards blame in difficult moments. Blame is easy. When we blame, we don’t bear responsibility ourselves. And because responsibility normally involves hard work, blame means less work for us.
The problem with blame is that it’s a dead-end road. If our goal is for things to get better, then we need responsibility, not blame. Someone needs to step up, roll up their sleeves, and commit to the work required to make things better. But saying “someone else ought to do something” doesn’t get us much farther than blame does.
“I was confused on that test… so I ought to do something about it.” What can I do? Maybe I can go see my teacher to explain my confusion and seek help. Maybe I can study more or differently next time. Putting myself first in this sentence opens me up to more work, yes, but it also empowers me and reminds me that I have the ability to make things better. I’m not helpless in this situation. There are lots of possibilities before me that I can control.
With this in mind, I’m going to recommit to paying close attention to how I phrase my sentences in difficult moments… those times when I’m frustrated, hurt or disappointed. And I’m going to try to help my children be more attentive to what they say and how they respond in their own similar moments.
Bottom Line: The difference between whether circumstances improve or not could be the difference between whether we pursue the path of blame or the path of responsibility… and that could all be set in motion by the very first word of our sentence.
Timothy L. Tinnesz is the fourth headmaster in the 57-year history of St. Timothy’s School. Prior to joining St. Timothy’s, he served as Head of Middle and Upper Schools at Gaston Day School in Gastonia, North Carolina.
Back to Top
________________________________________________
Event Calendar
Visit the current calendar of events on our website.
________________________________________________
| 
