Blindspots!

I loved to teach my children about "blindspots" -- by showing them the "blindspot" in my Suburban, I could explain to them about the areas we all have that we don't even realize we need to improve on.  

With their sports games, I always taught them that the perspective of the umpire or referee actually becomes part of the game.  So whether the ball is "in" or "out," if the ump or ref sees it as one or the other, it is the way it is called and thus part of the game.

If three people all stand equal distance apart and hold a huge globe, if each person explains what they see, each part is different.  Each person can stand and explain over and over what they see, and although everyone is holding the same globe, from each perspective it is different.

When one of my children really couldn't understand one of their "blind spots" in communicating that I could clearly see, I had them go around to each of their siblings and ask them to give them one good way they communicated, and two suggestions on how they thought the person could improve in communicating.  It not only taught my children the use of constructive criticism, but it taught them to consider others' perspectives on how they acted. 

I taught them that we are three people:  (1) the person we think we are; (2) the person others think we are; and (3) the person God really knows we are!  It is VERY IMPORTANT to know others' perspectives, and especially to learn God's perspective, despite who we want to think we are!  

We would regularly go over things that each child could improve on when we took them out for coffee or breakfast alone.  It was like a little "review" that you would get at work once a year detailing what was going great, and what needed a little work.  

Challenge:  Teach your children about "blindspots!"  Teach them to respect others' perspectives and value others' input into their lives.  Teach them to give and receive constructive criticism without defending themselves!