Westport news: Don't let great get in the way of good

For those of you who know me personally, this seemingly settling for mediocrity in the title might have caught you by surprise. And while I am a huge fan of striving for greatness in everything one sets out to do, the reality is that often times such an attitude can get in the way of making progress. This is especially true when talking about financial literacy.

Yes, in this category of life, doing something -- even if it's only good, not great -- usually trumps doing nothing. I'd like to give a recent example I've heard from the elementary-school level which I'm sure will invoke some discussion -- that is code for nasty emails and letters disagreeing with me.

I recently learned of a ReadAThon fundraiser, in which elementary school students were able to solicit their friends and family to sponsor them for time spent reading. The goal was to raise money for the Department of Human Services' annual Town of Westport Holiday Giving Program. A legitimate concern shared was a comment that included "Isn't it a bad message to send to children that they should get paid for reading? Isn't that like your view that kids shouldn't get allowance for doing chores?"

The comment is certainly fair, but let's look at the bigger picture. I think the primary intention is to encourage our children to take time and think of others who might be less fortunate, from a philanthropic point of view. And I think it's great that we're coupling this with reading -- one of the single best academic exercises a student can embark upon to develop their vocabulary and creative thought.

While this might fall into the bucket of paying off our kids to read, it's a temporary relief of my "rule" that we should support and embrace for the other benefits the endeavor brings to the table. Yes, this has the perception that we are paying for chores, paying for grades, paying them to read, etc. However, let's just think of this as a tax amnesty event that we don't need to be so strict in interpretation of our rules at the peril of possibly even a larger goal -- teaching our kids the values of a more altruistic self.

Look, we live in a great town. Our kids, on the aggregate, are amazing kids with love at their core. And while some of the fund raising efforts aren't perfect -- who cares? Life is not perfect. Our kids are not perfect. We, as parents, are certainly not perfect.

In thinking through the litany of complaints that we can rattle off about why things aren't perfect, ask yourself this question. Is the effort we are making to develop certain skills in our children getting closer to our goal? And if the answer is yes, then let it go. Don't let good get in the way of great.