letting your kids be average

**I went back through my posts and noticed I had a number of drafts.  So, here is number one the the "Draft Series".

look up the word average and you'll see it has a lot to do with math.
listen to any game of baseball and you'll quickly learn it's all about averages.
letting your kids be average is a whole other story.

now i am not against excelling or doing your best.  i am all for that.  while most of us are more than likely average, we strive to make our kids better than average.

take a phone call to a long distant relative or friend.  you know the question is going to be asked..."so, how are the kids doing?"  you're not going to answer, "oh, they are average kids doing average things."  if you're like me sometimes at that particular moment your kids are just average.  they aren't in any special activity.  they aren't winning any big awards, etc.  they are just being average.  why do we feel bad saying not much exciting is happening?

again i am not promoting laziness or free-willing living.  four-wheeling, maybe.  i see this alot amongst homeschoolers.  public schoolers too, just not as much.  take homeschool forums (pet peeve alert), far too many moms signatures will list how many kids they have, their ages, and curriculum they are using.  honestly it does not encourage me one bit to know that your brilliant child is taking chemistry, physics and trig all at the same time.  or that you can teach all ten of your kids who all will end up being doctors or something like that.

again the long distance phone call..."did you know that johnny/juan/maria (whatever names fits) won this award, is the top of her city, got 2nd in the state and 7th in the U.S of A!"  to which you respond, after oh wowing, my johnny didn't fight his sister today. 

now i am not trying to make fun of high achievers; we need them.  but why are we wanting our kids to be the best (or somewhere close) is it for them or to make us look good.  especially if you homeschool.  if they do poor or average in public school you can at least blame the school.  but when you have average kids, that means that you are probably average too.

to me, being average is not a bad thing at all.  if that is who you are, then that is who you are.  be the best average person there is.  i have seen too many parents put all of this unnecessary pressure on the kids to go to the olympics if they're good in sports, become a specialized doctor, etc.  let the kids do their best and to be kids.  far too many kids aren't kids anymore.

okay, i am stepping off my soapbox now.