The way parents feel about school matters

Sometimes my son asks me how I felt about school. I tell him about the positive things I liked about it - the library, getting to run messages to the teachers, picking my classes as I got older - and the weird things - like the time that I got roped into helping one of the nuns, lost track of time and missed science class.

I do not focus on the unpleasant bits - like all of seventh grade science class - but I do try to paint him a picture of fun learning and challenges to be met. When we are young, school exposes us to lots of topics - and we might not be good at all of them. As we get older, we get to choose the subject we care most about and explore it further.

I'm careful with what I share because I know that my thoughts about school - especially higher education - will shape my son's thoughts about school. When I share my college stories with my son, I tell him about the good times (although to be honest, I don't remember many bad times). I pull out the photo albums I have from those days and show him my school records. He has a hard time recognizing me in some of the pictures, but he likes them.

I know my son has good days and bad days at school. That is to be expected. What I don't want is for him to feel like school is something to get through. Rather, I want him to see school as an opportunity to explore the topics that interest him.

Do you share your school experiences with your children? How does it go? Tell me in the comments.