Dear Trinity Families and Friends,
We are blessed to be part of the process of the formation of your children. Today’s society is bombarded with information. In today’s world we are information obsessed. Today we get information from friends, media and other outside sources and form a belief based on that information; however once new information comes our way we quickly have a new way of thinking and that is not formation it is nothing more than gathering new information.
Formation takes time and is a process. In readings and in discovery, in placing our children in a setting where they gather information and discover and form ideas based on what they truly believe and from their prior knowledge. Formation is understanding, empathy and taking complete ownership of something. It is cultivated over time. It is particularly hard for young children whose world tends to be self-centered driven by developmental factors. To understand another person we must temporarily forget about our own wants and needs. In attempting to understand others, we must be willing to accept that they may hold views and opinions very different from our own. When we come to understand another person, it does not mean we agree with their mind set. We all grow-up in different environments, with different influences and experiences that shape and form our opinions and view of life. We cannot really know someone until we first try to understand the world in which they are coming from.
My sons are now 29 and 27 and still forming their opinions and establishing relationships. My advice (though given sparingly) sometimes falls upon deaf ears. Patience is a necessity; part of being patient is just being quiet and listening. The world that I grew up in and the world in which our children are growing up in are quite different. Parenting does not come with a manual, but one thing has guided me well; by not focusing upon my world and seeking to understand their perspective I become a better parent.
- Please do not text teachers during the course of the school day. I will be asking the teachers not to reply to texts during the school day. Emails are the best way to communicate and if immediate action is necessary please do not hesitate to call the front office.
- Lastly, Congratulations to Ethan Caesar, Austin Gabriel, Nicolo Garofalo, Jacob Laforte, Anna Lyons, Kari Nance, and Alen Skormin for being invited to participate in the Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP) based on their scores from recent standardized tests. Congratulations! We salute you!
With warm regards,
Mark J. Ravelli
Head of School