He also wrote the book
This is the list of 11 of the 50 Rules For Kids by Charles J. Sykes:
Rule 1: Life is not fair - Get Used To It.
Rule 2: The world doesn't care about your self esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you can earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: They called it Opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were.
So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of you parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This does NOT bear any resemblance to anything in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT REAL LIFE. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you will end up working for one.
11 comments:
This is a great list of rules for kids, and lots of it is good advice for adults also.
These rules ARE a bit snarky, but that doesn't mean they aren't useful. They sound like my mother. :-)
Jeanie, we adults can use these rules as you say in your comment. My favorite rule is #10 of course.
DJan, snarky is good I think. I am glad for you that your mom spoke clearly and truthfully to you. That must be where you got your good sense and reality.
Hey CiCi you are spoiling my big bowl of cherries here. If I break a tooth on a pit I'm blaming you.
all the best.
Such great advice. Too bad young people aren't designed to listen to such words of wisdom. I know I wasn't when I was young. I recognize myself in many of these statements.
Bravo for posting these, CiCi! As a tutor, I often get students who get bad grades out of sheer laziness and (probably) too many "Participant" trophies.
All good advice. Have you seen this?
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com/2012/06/you-are-not-special.html
Sounds like a good handbook for parents and their offspring. I guess that whole self-esteem movement went a little awry. I get the idea behind it. It's crucial that one not look outside for approval, that you care for and respect yourself, but one doesn't have to become a narcissist or expect that the rest of the world will follow you without some accomplishments to back you up. It's so unfortunate because these same kids are hitting the job market now and are getting quite a shock.
They may be hard to hear, but these rules are very true. It's too bad our kids can't learn them gently along the way instead of finding the harsh reality after years of everybody "winning."
def some strong wisdom in this...might have to pick that book up...
Will TV and the media ever make it right??Shows like Dr.Phil just create a terrible image of systems no longer working both a home and in school.
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