Life's Tool Box - A Guide for Parents and Educators

 Rona Milch Novick, PhD

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Everything in Life is Easier  With the Right Tools

I was already a licensed psychologist, wife and mother.  In walks my Dad as I’m stripping the wires of a broken lamp with a butter knife.  An Industrial Arts teacher and proud owner of a garage filled with tools, he joked – “you know there’s a tool made for that!”    “Everything in life” he said “is easier with the right tools”. 

I hear that sentence in my head when hanging a frame, spackling a hole in the wall, or tinkering with household items that need repair.   I hear the wisdom in my Dad’s words whenever I am working with educators or clinicians,  meeting with parents and children in my clinical practice, and especially, when I am with my own children. 

I have fond memories of the garage in the house where I grew up.  A place filled with saws as big as me and tiny intricate tools for the most specific jobs, and my Dad, with such a sense of authority and certaintly when he inevitably found just the right tool to do the job.

Parenting and education is so much less defined than those problems tackled in my Dad’s garage.  Never exact science, raising and educating children has become incredibly challenging.  I have the opportunity to speak and meet with so many caring, dedicated and compassionate adults who really want to support children’s growth and development – they just wish they had the right tools.

As parents and educators, the tools we have for “building” children are our words and actions.   But we want some of the same things in our metaphorical toolbox as any carpenter.  We want a variety of tools – so we can do all the jobs of parenting and teaching.  We  want tried and true . . . the well worn, but trusted hammer . . . the saw we can count on to stay straight as we cut.  And just as when we hang a frame on the wall, the contribution of the hammer is clear, but it is the picture we see and enjoy,  we want child raising tools that do the job, leaving invisible marks that let our children shine. 

So this blog will offer practical, workable tools for educating and raising healthy, resilient and happy children.  Borrowing from my Dad’s toolbox wisdom, each entry will highlight a tool that serves a purpose in supporting the growth of children.  We are certain to be a bit clumsy at times, hitting our thumbs with the  metaphorical hammer, or slipping and making a hole in the wall.  But hopefully, we’ll find the tools that help us correct our mistakes and keep on building!  After all, we are all participating in an amazing adventure –   and everything in life – especially something as wondrous and challenging as producing the next generation of healthy, happy and productive citizens- is easier with the right tools.

To read  posts about other “tools”, and see current and past blog entries, click on Posts in the blue box on the right side of this page.

To subscribe to the blog, so that you receive notification each time a new post is added, click on Email Subscription in the blue box on the right side of this page.