By Chris Roberts
Kindergarten teachers [note]My wife taught them for most of her 26 years in the classroom.[/note] will tell you that their real job isn’t to teach math and the alphabet. The real job is teaching 5-year-olds that the world does not revolve around them.
This is an important lesson for all of us, and it’s best if learned early.
The second rule is actually second on the list of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, by the late Robert Fulghum: “Play fair.”
Some talking guys at WEEI radio learned the consequences of breaking the second rule this week, after one host called the daughter of the NFL’s premiere quarterback an “annoying little pissant.” The criticism came after watching a clip of the 5-year-old acting like a typical 5-year-old, seeking his dad’s attention in a typically annoying way.
The station cut ties with the 25-year-old speaker, Alex Reimer.
The Boston Globe reports that Brady cut short an interview on Monday, Jan. 29, 2017, with the station, which has close ties to the New England Patriots with its “Patriots Monday” focus. Brady called it “very disappointing” to hear it. “”My daughter, or any child, they certainly don’t deserve that,” he said.
Brady is no angel, and on Jan. 21 his curse toward a camera operator before the start of a conference championship was amplified for the world to hear. Brady understands media, using it and being used by it in a symbiotic way.
But it doesn’t take a media-savvy person to know it’s not good to unnecessarily criticize a 5-year-old. All it takes is being the parent of a 5-year-old — or, a 5-year-old with a good kindergarten teacher.