How much drive does your child currently have? Take one of the tests below.
Drive Questionnaire for Middle and High School students
Does your child get up for school on time without much prompting?
Can your child tell you of at least three interests other than “hanging out, chatting online, talking on the phone, surfing the net, playing video games, or going to the mall?”
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Does your child complete all of his/her school work without much prompting?
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Is your child able to talk about the kind of future he/she dreams about?
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Does your child save money for things he/she wants?
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Does your child complete activities such as a sports season, a role in a play, etc?
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Is your child involved in extracurricular activities?
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Does your child enjoy special events such as field trips?
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Is your child a good traveler?
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Do your child’s stated desires and behaviors match? Example: The child says that she wants to make the cheerleading squad and she practices endlessly before the tryouts.
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Does your child attend school at least 95% of the time?
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Does your child enjoy talking to you about his/her day?
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Does your child like spending time with you and talking with you?
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Is your child looking forward to driving a car as soon as possible?
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Does your child regularly engage in physical activities such as bike riding, tree climbing, walking, etc?
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Does your child have a good balance of busy and down time?
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Does your child seek opportunities to travel, participate in competitions/festivals, or special events?
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Does your child have a true passion about something?
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Does your child regularly set goals that lead him/her toward a purpose in life?
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Does your child work at a job, or help neighbors in order to earn money?
RD Harmony, wichita, KS 12/01/08
It's an interesting list, but it doesn't mention a single life skill, other than auto driving. (Yes, bicycling might be a life skill, but cheerleading is not.) We deserve what we get when the adult leadership here (the author) leaves out cooking, laundry, bicycle maintenance, building a fire, tree trimming, faucet washer repair, basic sewing, and a host of other things that children need to know. Believe me, there is fun in learning the mastery of skills--and plainly there is both a shortage of expectation and of instruction in many schools, many homes and by counseling professionals. The Junior League, locally, has closed their thrift shop and is diverting resources to help non-performing students (that have been diverted to a special "ranch") to learn cooking basics. I find it rather sad that a non counseling/non education group of outsiders is moved to "point the way" in this manner.
Good parenting is teaching children a host of "needed for adulthood" skills--always has been, and always will be. How did we ever get to the point that we actually believe that we are considering "drive" without talking about life skill mastery?
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