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Janet Pilcher: Hello everyone, I’m Janet Pilcher, the host of Accelerate Your Performance. Thank you for tuning into our show. Today I share a short Thanksgiving message that all of us in education can relate to. I hope it’s meaningful to you.

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In 1986, Robert Fulgham published a bestselling book we’re all familiar with called, All I Really Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten. It’s a core message that’s important and it’s more important than ever. As I read what we learned in kindergarten, think about how you can live these actions every day and how what you live models these actions for others.

Also think about how you reject actions that go against living these learnings. By doing so, we spread goodness to each other. One act leads to another and another and another. Until at some point, it becomes the way we all live in this world together.

Here’s what we learned in kindergarten that carries over to us today:

Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some, and think some, and draw, and paint, and sing, and dance, and play, and work every day some. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out in the world, watch for traffic. Hold hands and stick together. And be aware of wonder, a feeling of seeing something beautiful.

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On Thanksgiving Day, let’s spend the whole day living what we learned in kindergarten. What if everyone in the world lived this way for one day? I don’t think we would want to go back to any other way.

I hope you live this way and get the feeling of gratitude that we share with each other on Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.