When
I was in fourth grade, a science project meant making a volcano out of chicken
wire, newspaper and plaster. Well, more
like your dad making a volcano out of chicken wire and you spreading a little
bit of plaster and painting the outside.
Everyone would bring in their project to be put on display
in the classroom. If your parents were
super cool, they made a volcano that actually erupted and you were the envy of
the class.
Thankfully,
for me, times have changed. Science
projects are now done 100% at school. Parental
assistance is forbidden (with the exception of sending in a few needed
materials). The class chose
a group of three that they wanted to work with. She chose one of her good friends and a boy
she talks about quite a bit. This was
going to be interesting.
The
first few days went well. They all chose
an experiment and divided up the tasks.
There was even a phone call over the weekend to confirm who was bringing
in which materials. Then during week two the reality of a group project set
in. The other girl and the boy got into
an argument and wouldn’t talk to each other.
My daughter became the middle man, playing telephone between her two
partners to keep the project going. Fortunately,
this is fourth grade and the argument was forgotten after a couple days.
A
few days after that my daughter came home really upset. “He’s not letting me do anything!” My first reaction was to tell her that she
actually was pretty lucky to have a partner that is doing their share of the
work. (We’ve all had those situations
where we had to pick up the slack when someone else didn’t do their part.) But I also know that sitting on the sidelines
watching is no fun either. We had a
great discussion about working with others and compromise. She decided she would ask her teacher for
advice on the situation. The next day
before she talked to her teacher, her partner came to her and asked for help. Phew, crisis averted.
During
our conversation I shared with her that at work I have group projects all the
time. There are days when it seems like
it would be easier just to do it all yourself, but you can’t. You need the help of other people to complete
the project. I could have taken it a
step further. Life is a group project. Sometimes you’ll need to work with others. Other times you’ll need to lean on them for
emotional support so that you’re able to complete the task on your own. It’s never easy, but working with others is one
of the keys to having a successful, happy life.
Hopefully by starting at such an early age she’ll have so much practice,
success working with others will come naturally.
Heart-FULLy
yours,
Kacey
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