Opinion: Kindergarten continues to teach adults lessons

“All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” by Robert Fulgham, hit the best-seller list about 15 years ago. I pulled my old copy out of a box recently. Quirky thing is, I've come to know three different kindergarten teachers in the last few weeks.

Call me cosmic, but I smelled a story.

I zeroed in on this irony and quizzed them on how they prep their students to someday be released into the wild. As with the original book, I was blown away by their wisdom and the utter simplicity of their mission.

The sage advice I got from them flows over into the world of business and commerce. Little children and their mentors offer a wealth of ideas that can help build a better work environment for our employees, better serve our customers and increase our profitability.

Fond memories

Of all the teachers you've endured, the easiest one to remember is your kindergarten teacher. Right?

Mine was Mrs. Tidwell, a fine lady and the sort of person who quickly forgave kids for wetting their pants, something I did with more frequency than other children in my room. Mrs. Tidwell cushioned my humiliation with her special brand of tolerance and taught me that I could make mistakes - terrible, pee-in-your-pants mistakes - and still be respected and loved.

Anyone who put up with little yellow-stained-sock urchins like me deserves to be remembered.

Your kindergarten teacher was also your first real teacher at your first real school. That's another reason we can't forget them.

The first in a progression - like first love, first beer, first house, first job, etc. - makes it easy to recall such people and things.

Want to be more successful? Be first to do something unique.

Kindergarten, I'm told, is a German word that means “a child's garden.” Most kindergarten teachers strive to establish a kind of educational Garden of Eden. Mrs. Tidwell, my teacher, made sure that our classroom was safe and secure. Kids could touch and handle everything in the room with one exception.

Her “forbidden fruit” was a pair of scissors. Naturally, I got caught handling them but didn't get thrown out of the garden.

Want to be more successful? Be forgiving when people make mistakes.

Paying attention

Let's think about challenges faced by kindergarten teachers. Every weekday, a score of snot-filled 5-year-olds blast into their lives at a very early hour. The sole function and purpose of these children is to make noise.

If we could just harness their energy we could tell OPEC to stick it.

A kindergarten teacher knows how to get them to sit quietly and pay attention. U.S. presidents stand before both houses of Congress and the United Nations and fail to accomplish this.

While maintaining peace, a run-of-the-mill kindergarten teacher makes it possible for you to drop off your kid and have him/her returned to you READING from books.

Additionally, your tiny, sticky child will learn to add and subtract, something current White House occupants can't seem to do.

Miraculously, kindergarten teachers convince their students to understand that letters of the alphabet are more than visual symbols.

Each letter owns its own “sound.” Pupils master the art of putting the sounds together in the right order and that's how they learn to spell.

Of course, at the tender age of 5, their little brain cells bump around like a billion Bode Millers, scorching downhill on their skis. In computer lingo, kids operate with the newer, faster chips. Adults are like older, clunkier 286 models, and a few of us think, well, like the old Pong game. Point is, we'd be better in business if we could think better. How do wedo that? Our committeeof kindergarten teachers suggests that we cultivate more curiosity. Kids want to know what, where, how, when, which, why and, especially, why not.

Most great discoveries occur because somebody asks questions.

Want to be more successful? Get curious. Ask more questions.

The goal

The bottom line of a kindergarten teacher's role is this: Make each child think they can do better. Life is a process of striving, not strife.

Want to be more successful? Seek to improve.

The enormous energy and enthusiasm of kindergarteners bears mentioning.

Want to be more successful? Be enthusiastic.

Kids naturally accept other kids without prejudice until an adult teaches them to discriminate.

Want to be more successful? Be tolerant and play fair.

My kindergarten think tank consists of three special ladies: teachers Betty Curnutt of Strafford, Jane Elmore of Pershing and Marcia Hlavacek of Horace Mann in Springfield. They made this story possible as have all other teachers who bestow their indelible marks on the next generation.

In closing let me say, “Mrs. Tidwell, I haven't worn my yellow socks in years. Thanks for everything.”

Bob May is former managing partner of five local radio stations and is engaged in sales and management consultancy with various local businesses.