Charles J. Sykes: 50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School

Charles J. Sykes offers life lessons that are not included in the curriculum for most children today: honest advice about what they will encounter in the “real world” post-schooling and how their parents can help them best prepare—not with cushy self-esteem talks, but rather with honest challenges.

His 50 lessons are frank, sometimes harsh, and often hilarious, including:

#1 - Life is not fair. Get used to it.

#7 - If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He doesn’t have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he’s not going to ask you how you FEEL about it.

#15 - Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it “opportunity.”

#42 - Change the oil.

#43 - Don’t let the success of other depress you.

#48 - Tell yourself the story of your life. Have a point.

Sykes elaborates on each of his points, creating a wise, no-nonsense guide for parents to help their children help themselves. Each rule is explored with wise, pithy examples that parents, grandparents, and teachers can use to help children help themselves succeed---in school and out of it.

A few more rules kids won’t learn in school:
#9 Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn’t.
#14 Looking like a slut does not empower you.
#29 Learn to deal with hypocrisy.
#32 Television is not real life.
#38 Look people in the eye when you meet them.
#47 You are not perfect, and you don’t have to be.
#50 Enjoy this while you can.

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