We have a first baby coming to our family in October. Our youngest child is about to have a child of her own. We are all pretty excited about it.
When a new baby is coming into a family a lively search for a name ensues. Everyone has a favorite name. It can be very fun to choose a baby name. The mother to be probably has few that she has carried around in her head since she was a girl. The father may have a football hero or two with names he really likes. I know our daughter and her husband have gone through quite a list looking for the perfect name.
So the question is, how to choose a name? For our first child we just watched a movie. Yup, about two weeks before our due date we still had no names picked out. Back then you never knew which you would have so you had to have two names picked out. You have half the work now days! Anyway, we were watching a Disney movie and in the credits we saw the name Jodie. Eureka, the perfect name – perfect for no other reason than that it sounded good and we liked it.
Our well named family
With all of our other children we went through a similar scientific process, one was named after a best friend, one was named after a song I liked, one came from the Bible, one was named…and that is how it went.
Later I realized that each name had a meaning and possibly some energy attached to it. I thought that maybe we ought to have put a bit more thought into the process of choosing but you can’t go back and change a child’s name. For better or worse it is what it is.
Fortunately that is not true in business! For well over a year I have been searching for a new name for my favorite learning tool, currently called The Closet. I have wanted to change it for quite a few reasons.
• My printer said that he loved my Closet Mastery Course but had to look inside because he wondered if I was training people to come out of the Closet. Hmmmmm
• When people ask me what I do and I tell them I show parents how to create a Closet so their children will love to learn. I get confused looks and then the inevitable “So, how does a clean closet help them love school.” Double Hmmmmm.
• Many parents have told me they love the idea of the tool but that they just don’t have an actual closet so they can’t do it.
• It seems odd to call this tool The Closet and then tell people they can use a box, a bag or any old container that they would like – or even no container at all.
You see the name was just problematic. I needed a new name which spoke to what the educational tool was all about. I wanted something that didn’t specify a certain type of container. That let out words like cubby, cupboard, nook, tub, closet and so forth. I wanted a name a bit more descriptive of what makes the tool so effective in helping children to love learning; in making learning fun.
I asked for a lot of ideas and opinions
So I asked people for their opinions for well over a year. I compiled a list of about 40 possibilities. Many were cut because they specified a specific type of container. Others were cut because the URL was taken and I needed a URL. Others were scratched because they were cumbersome to say or had hard to spell words.
After the list was whittled down a bit I sent it out to some friends and past students. I narrowed their responses to just two and lost a lot of sleep over a few days trying to make a final decision.
So here it is, the new name for the amazing love of learning tool formerly called The Closet –
The Spark Station
It is a place but not a specific type of container. It incorporates one of the things that make the tool so effective in inspiring a love of learning – responding to sparks, what kids are already interested in.
So enjoy learning more about The Spark Station and how it can add excitement and a love of learning in your family. Just check out the Start Here category.
I would love to hear how you feel about the new name!
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We have winners of the tickets to the Spark Station Workshop: Monica M., Suzanne T, and Sally W. Congratulations to you all. We are going to have a marvelous time and you will go home inspired, rejuvenated and ready to have a ball with your kids!
