Potential...

Potenti|al...this is a word that has been in my vocabulary recently. How do you reach it, when do you know you've successfully acheived your full potential. 
Peyton is a bright boy (and while I'm biased...he really is). And there have been a few conversations about reaching a higher potential. He is a whiz at math, he always thinks in numbers and is eager to learn more about math languages. However his marks at school don't refelct the amount of knowledge he has in his brain. They are not bad marks, but if you knew my kid you would be sure A's would be the letter of choice for math.  His teacher chatted with me this week and let me know, that while he knows all the concepts, he has a hard time expressing how he came up with the answer. He's a bit of a perfectionist (I have no idea where he got that from) and is afraid of saying the wrong thing. In his grade level it's not about knowing the answer but knowing how to explain the answer. All this is valuable to growing up and becoming well rounded, and I really appreciated his teacher letting me know. I
I told you that background story to bring you into the conversation and thought process I've had around full potential.
I spoke with Peyton about what his teacher said and asked him if understood what she was saying. Where is his full potential and was he at it...the short answer is no.
How do we measure it? Who gets to determine that full potential has been reached. Of course we go through this in our heads with Zachary, because he was born with obstacles put infront of him. But I never want to miss an opportunity with my other boys, pushing them to reach their full potential. So while I set up physio appointments and Dr appointments for Zachary making sure he doesn't miss one thing, may I strive to make sure my whole family reaches their full potential.

May we never settle...