From the Headmaster

Dear Members of the Marist College Ashgrove Family,

Mothers are very special!  They tend to be the 'glue' that holds a family together.  They also tend to 'hero worship' their children – especially their sons!  And mothers are credited with some amazing comments to their children eg 

'Because I said so'

'Just you wait and see'

'No pudding unless you finish your dinner'

'If someone asked you to jump off a cliff, would you?

''I want never gets'

'Don't sit that close to the TV, you'll get square eyes'

'Who is 'she'? The cat's mother?'

'Don't make that face, if the wind changes you'll stay like that'

'Back in my day …’'Talking to you is like talking to a brick wall'

'I’m not asking you, I’m telling you'

'When you pay the bills you can do whatever you like'

'You’re not going anywhere until you tidy that room'

'I wasn’t born yesterday you know'

'Don’t you make me pull this car over’

I have pretty much heard all of these from my mother!  Recently though I came across a story that typifies our belief that our mother is someone we really don’t want to disappoint. It reminded me that our three sons always wanted me to discipline them because they really wanted to avoid Paula’s “I’m really disappointed in you” talks!  Hats off to Ivan Fernandez who really learnt the meaning of winning fairly from his mother.

"In a race, (see picture below), athlete Abel Mutai representing Kenya, was just a few feet from the finish line, but he was confused with the signage & stopped thinking he had completed the race. The Spanish athlete, Ivan Fernandez was right behind him & realizing what was happening, he started shouting at the Kenyan for him to continue running; but Mutai didn't know Spanish didn't understand. Then the Spanish pushed him to victory. A journalist asked Ivan, "Why did you do that?"

Ivan replied, "My dream is that someday we can have a kind of community life". The journalist insisted "But why did you let the Kenyan win?" Ivan replied, "I didn't let him win, he was going to win". The journalist insisted again, "But you could have won!" Ivan looked at him & replied, "But what would be the merit of my victory? What would be the honour of that medal? What would my Mum think of that?"

Values are transmitted from generation to generation. What values are we teaching our children? Let us not teach our kids the wrong ways & means to WIN"

Let’s all practice teaching our children the right way to win.

Yours in Jesus, Mary and St Marcellin.

Peter McLoughlin

Headmaster