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A MESSAGE FROM SR. PRINCIPAL, MR. TOLZDA
Dear St. Serra Parents,
Throughout the years, as both a parent and longtime educator, I've seen students encounter difficult and challenging situations in various ways. Whether with their studies, peers, performances, parental pressure or whatever it may be, it does not go unnoticed. And as parents, one of the hardest things to do is watch our children struggle. When our children are faced with any kind of adversity, challenges or difficult situations, our first inclination is to react and rescue them. It’s human nature. It’s what we do because we love them.
However, as parents, it is also important to recognize the difference between supporting our children and enabling them. To me, supporting your child means the focus should be on providing assistance, encouragement and helping them grow, overcome challenges, and become more self-reliant.
On the other hand, enabling is a pattern in which we allow our children to continue their bad habits or negative patterns of behavior without allowing them to experience any kind of consequences or failure. Sometimes we make excuses for them or provide resources that allow the inappropriate behavior to persist. It might seem like support–but it isn’t–because it disregards the opportunity for the child to learn and grow from the situation. When we enable, we may have good intentions, but we prolong the problem rather than help confront and overcome it.
If we reflect on the struggles that we encountered growing up, I would imagine all of us would agree that we benefited from them as much as we suffered through them. Please keep in mind that when your child encounters a difficult situation at St. Serra, we have their best interest at heart. We have well-trained staff who are kind, nurturing, and invested in your children and want them to be the best that they can be.
“ For though they fall seven times, they will rise again.” - Proverbs 24:16
Always striving,
Tim Tolzda, Sr. Principal
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