A while back I went with my best friend (who moved away from me! Not cool!) to pick-up letters of recommendation from her former employers, and I had a thought...
My mom taught us the importance of specificity, especially when celebrating or correcting my autistic brothers. Saying, "Good job Dar" is nice, but also a missed opportunity to specify what he did well and why we love that he did it! "Wow Dar! You took a fair share of the bacon! What a wonderful way to stay healthy and care about the rest of us! Thank-you!" A few more words, but what a difference!!
**Random Addition: Dar taking his fair share of bacon would be something worth celebrating, let me tell you!!**
Looking at my friend's letters of recommendation I noticed that one was very boring and read like a "she was a good teacher" form letter, while the others included specific to her compliments. Seeing them written down I couldn't help but remember all the times she had been "compassionate about teaching creatively" and "gifted at respecting her students".
I'll bet even she was reminded and encouraged!
So, this weekend, why don't we all write ourselves and our loved ones letters of recommendation? Be specific! Be kind! Have fun and do it together, or sneak away and surprise them with their morning meal! But please don't forget yourself!! Whether as a mom, dad, spouse, advocate, student or teacher of life... recommend yourself and highlight your achievements and strengths through struggle!!
I promise not to hand out homework again for the rest of the weekend!!
Hugs, smiles and love!!!!
Author's Note: If you'd like a little help getting started, here ya go:
Dear Me:
I would like to recommend myself as an excellent advocate, world changer, and passionate person. To begin with, I choose the blogs I read with intention and only follow the classiest, coolest ones. Like Autism Answers! The classiest and coolest and hippest and cutest-kid-stories having of them all!!!
~~Alright friends, you can take it from there...tee hee!~~
