Well, school is back in session and hopefully your kids are adjusting to the new year.  As parents, can we do to help ensure that our kids have a positive school year?  One way I believe we can help our kids is to encourage them to create a positive vision for the new year. Recently, I came across this quote by Michael Jordan.                                           "You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them." ~Michael Jordan That’s so true, isn’t it?  If we don’t expect things of ourselves, we don’t give it our “all”.  Especially if we don’t believe we’re capable of doing it.  Then it’s easy not to be disappointed in ourselves, because afterall, we never really expected that we could do it in the first place...right? This also applies to our children.  As they jump back into the new school year, it’s a wonderful time to begin the conversation around expectations.  It’s one thing for you to have certain expectations for your child, but where the real value lies in expectations, is when your child learns to have expectations, for themselves. As we encourage kids to set their own expectations, we also need to remember that we’re empowering them to develop their own independence.  We’re encouraging them to utilize their own mind and voice.  However, we often become frustrated, when our kids begin to develop their own voice and opinions, especially if they differ from ours! Today, I thought we’d take a look at how we can help children find their voice and place in the world, while also respecting their parent’s and teacher’s presence. I’ve invited my guest, Connie Grier (https://twitter.com/CkgConsults), to join my conversation.  Connie is an award winning educator engaged in instruction and educational leadership within the public school arena for over 20 years, serving as a student focused educational leader possessing a strong commitment to social justice, parental engagement, relationship building and the development of students and staff.  During this time, she has been praised as a “great communicator who advocates for what’s RIGHT as opposed to what’s easy.” Connie serves families in several school districts through her non-profit, The RESPECT Alliance (http://www.therespectalliance.org), an organization devoted to increasing parental advocacy, through her educational consulting firm, CKG Consulting, LLC and through her commitment to the creation and implementation of effective mentoring practices as outlined in her newly published book “The ABC’s of Mentoring: A Bi-Weekly Road Map to Uplifting Youth” (http://www.abcsofmentoring.com).  Please join us and learn the #1 thing. that a parent can do, to help ensure their child’s success!