Page 14 - North State Parent August 2020

for community By Katy M. Clark
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Teaches Valuable Life Lessons
“She’s nervous,” I told my coworker about my daughter, 11, as we sat outside on a warm day eating lunch. “Who can blame
her? She’s going to middle school.”
Middle school was awesome,” my coworker said,
her voice laden with sarcasm. “I had braces and wore glasses and a back brace.”
“I wore braces, too,” I commented. “And I was the tallest kid in seventh grade. Boys called me the Jolly Green Giant.”
She nodded, chewing thoughtfully on her sand- wich. I think I saw her shudder.
But that’s when it hit me. I looked at the two of us, all these years later, both successful at work and ful-
filled with families and activities that we loved.
What if middle school didn’t crush us after all? What if the physical awkwardness and social mishaps of middle school taught us invaluable life lessons that
prepared us for our lives today?
I think the answer is that it did. And I can’t wait to
tell my daughter why.
Middle school teaches resilience. You will fail in
middle school. Maybe it’s a bad grade in algebra or being cut from the volleyball team. But you go back to middle school every day. You study harder and get help. You shake off the tryout and try something else. You fall down and get back up. You become resilient.
Middle school helps you embrace change. Middle
school is all about change. You will not be the same height or weight from one year to the next in middle school. You may or may not have the same friends. You will change classes like you change the toilet paper roll--constantly. Middle school is daily affirmation that change is part of life, that it can be good or bad, but that you will survive it.
Middle school teaches conflict resolution. Con- flicts, like someone using your pen without permission or cutting in front of you in the cafeteria line, happen daily in middle school. Do you avoid or accommodate the situation? Mediate or challenge it? Each day pro- vides an opportunity to work on communicating your side of the story and empathizing with the other 15
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