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Show Schoolvrrv and gM Home J by TI Dr. Daryl J. McCarty Executive Secretary Utah Education Association Being a 'nice guy' "Daddy, everybody is smiling and saying hello to that man in front of us. Why is that?" asked Jill. Had Jill been in front of the man, she would have learned his secret. As he approached others coming in the opposite op-posite direction, he would smily, say hello, tip his hat and exchange plesantries. There's a lesson in that for youngsters like Jill. It pays to be a "nice guy." Too many of us don't learn that early enough in life. Parents would do well to explain to the kids. Psychologists tell us that many people who get fired from their jobs don't get canned because they're incompetent in-competent workers. It's usually because they have nasty attitudes, bad tempers or no ability to work well with "others. Kids need to learn that they are the people chiefly responsible for their own attitudes, tempers and relationships with others. " A youngster who decides that he or she isn't going to try in school, listen in school or work in school will fail in school. It's a matter of attitude. A student who hits other kids in school isn't going to learn as well as it he'd been peaceable. It's a matter of tem-pler. tem-pler. If a child treats others like dirt, few will give that child needed friend- ship. That's a matter of relationships. Parental pep talks and goal-setting can help with attitude. The uncontrolled temper problem may yield to a number of solutions. Some adults counsel kids to "count to ten" when somebody says or does something that angers them. One young man, when angered, will go out in the back yard and chop wood until he's heated enough to be cooled down. Parents can help children's relations with others by talking to them about such things as true friendship, fairness to others, concern for others and helping others. Being a "good guy or gal" really does pay. |