Cheese on Wheels

We have a game that we play in our family called 'Cheese on Wheels'. Basically, whenever we’re driving somewhere and any one of us see a yellow vehicle on the road, we’ve got to shout ‘cheese on wheels’, and the first person to claim the cheese wins.

You’d think that there wouldn’t be enough yellow cars to make this game fun, but let me tell you - all of a sudden, yellow cars are everywhere…

Don’t believe me? I bet you the next time you’re in your car you’re not going to be able to help yourself with a ‘cheese on wheels’ moment….

Now, I’m not telling you this to help with keeping the kids entertained in the car (but, also… it is a cool game).

As many of you know, we educate our kids from home. Our youngest wanted to dig deeper into some maths and English recently and so we got a tutor, Erik, who spends an hour with him every day during the week. Erik is just amazing… really…. he’s just got the gift of helping kids get really excited about learning and it’s something magical to watch.

He’s only been a part of our team for a month now, but the impact he’s having on our family is one that is immense…. And here’s the thing….. it’s not really about the content that he’s teaching…. I mean, that’s what we hired him for, and it’s what Mies loves, but the real magic that he brings to our home is how every day, he finds some way to remind Miles of his strengths, and what makes our boy unique…

He doesn’t do it in a BS, over the top kind of way…. But the result has been that, in just 4 short weeks, we’ve gone from having a kid who was worried that his reading wasn’t good enough, to a kid who has grown in confidence, who is prepared to try and who’s not afraid to read now. A child who believes in himself and his ability to read!

Erik tells him how he’s going to do amazing things, he tells him how well his reading has come along. He tells him that he reminds him of Elon Musk as a boy…. He tells him that the world needs more of what Miles has…. He also tells him that he’s got work to do and there are some areas he needs to focus on, but Miles now goes into that with confidence, rather than doubt, or fear…

And that’s the difference.

The biggest lesson he’s taught me…..

Just like the yellow cars that we see all the time now that we’re looking for them….. well… so too can we remind our kids of all their talents and strengths until they don’t have to look for them and they’re just ‘there’.

Focus on your kids' strengths, and watch those strengths appear everywhere…. It’s a magical thing.