Anti-bullying, Pink Shirt Day is tomorrow, February 23, 2011. Here’s a heartwarming video about how two schools have come together to express, without words, their support for love and tolerance.
Feb 042011
Kindness is never outgrown, in fact, it can’t be taught early enough. These superhero preschoolers don capes and pass out flowers. Just ask them what feels better, being mean or being kind. Their teacher knows the best way to begin anti-bullying; teach kindness.
Fill kids up with self esteem and they won’t have to go searching elsewhere for it.
DENVER METRO RESIDENTS*
SIGN UP FOR THE ‘KINDNESS ROCKS’ NEWSLETTER
AND BE ENTERED FOR A CHANCE TO
WIN A WRITING WORKSHOP!
Enter between now and Midnight, January 27th for this fabulous January 29th Workshop!
Writing for kids will improve anyone’s writing because in actuality you’re writing for two audiences, kids and adults who read to them! The attention span is short! And kids have a hard time sitting still too! Below is all the workshop information and some additional contest rules:
WRITE FOR KIDS!!! WRITING WORKSHOP
SATURDAY, JANUARY 29th, 2011
Where: The Cloisters on Wadsworth, 2103 South
Wadsworth Blvd., Lakewood, CO 80227
9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Workshop facilitator, Penny Holguin is a multi-award winning author who has been writing professionally for almost two decades. She has studied with many distinguished authors including, Allen Ginsberg, Annie Dillard, Natalie Goldberg and Ann Whitford Paul.
Be Prepared for Some HANDS ON Fun and Play!
We’ll begin our day exploring some fundamentals of children’s literature; format, how to write for children and tricks of the trade. But the fun explodes with skill sharpening exercises for developing better stories, characters, plot twists and more!
Our session will complete with time devoted to what’s going on in publishing (it’s the Wild West out there) and what to do about getting your book, story or manuscript to the next level. We’ll also discuss an equally essential topic, MARKETING.
6 hours only $79!!!
Register with payment today and receive a FREE consultation** on your, completed, children’s story!
SIGN UP NOW by
Email: charmerspress@yahoo.com or
Call (303)550-8223
*You are welcome to enter if you live outside the Denver Metro area, however, travel arrangements are strictly up to you.You must also advise Charmers Press of your resident status.
**Contest winner is not be eligible for the free story consultation.
I’m gonna go looking for nice things to do today. Anyone else? Would love to hear back from you, the things you did or saw others do!
This Facebook page is dedicated to doing nice things. Check it out:
Pay it Forward Day ~ Best Path to Anti-Bullying!
Oct 272010
A recent article in the NY Times suggests that there’s less of a demand for picture books due to additional pressure parents feel to push their kindergartners and first graders into chapter books. I’d like to put my two cents into this debate. After all, I’ve authored a picture book and feel the need to defend a medium I adore!
I’ll speak to my own experience, having an advanced reader in the family and having been guilty of pushing chapter books myself. My six year is reading at the forth grade level. At least in fluency. He can read faster and more precisely than my 8 year old. The bad news is that he has no idea what he’s reading; his fluency is great but his comprehension is sadly lacking. We’re at the crux of the issue here. Picture books are tools for helping children bridge from reading into understanding stories. The illustrations help clarify what the child misses in language. There are two separate areas of the brain that are at work and picture books help to connect both parts. It’s just another way to cross mid-line (a term that means connecting synapses across both brain hemispheres.)
There’s one additional point I’d like to interject directly to parents who are pushing the chapter books because of the fear that their child won’t progress quickly enough to become a Harvard candidate. (BTW, many Harvard scholars were brought up on picture books.) Please, please, consider the joy of reading. Picture books touch children on a deep emotional level. Kids identify with the characters and colorful drawings. There is VALUE in inspiring literacy, the love of books! Are your children loving books? Do they pick up books and read on their own? Would we eliminate the paintings in a museum in favor of just the descriptions?
Read picture books with your kids. Let them savor the illustrations!
READ DEPRESSING ARTICLE ON DIMINISHING PICTURE BOOK DEMAND
A great discussion going on today led by Amber from MileHighMamas. Her boy was bullied at a soccer game and the bully’s mom wasn’t around to intervene. Should you discipline other peoples kids? Is it a teaching opportunity? How do you approach it? Do you become angry with the bully’s parent? Should we just let ‘kids be kids?’ How do we teach our kids to stand up for themselves? How do we teach our kids to empower themselves without teaching them to cross the line?
READ MILE HIGH MAMAS BLOG HERE
“Sarah O’Hara ~ Gift of the Fairy Wings” was mentioned in the Blog as well. Thank you Mile High Mamas!
Oct 082010
Every time I read about teens killing themselves over bullying I’m reminded that this problem didn’t begin when they entered the halls of middle school. Bullying begins in preschool. That’s it. Plain and simple. Kids don’t wake up one day when they’re 12 or 13 and decide that being nice just doesn’t cut it. They don’t say to themselves, “Gee, wonder what I’ll do today for fun . . . hmmmmm . . . well, I’ve always wanted to torment other kids, today’s as good as any to start that. Let me see if I can get some of friends to help!”
No, these kids are well practiced and schools have turned a blind eye. In the neighborhood elementary school my children attend, there’s a little girl that has bullied several kids including one of my daughter’s friends for two years (and she’s only in second grade!) The school has offered my daughter’s friend counseling to help her cope with the bully. Well, okay, that’s an idea, but how about mandatory socialization group for the little bully?!!! This bully has gotten off scott free and the issue has been addressed by moving the little girl from class to class. For the number of children that have been affected by her bullying, the school should probably consider expelling her; forcing her parents into taking therapeutic action.
The below AP article speaks of four teenagers who took their own lives as relief from the bullies at their high school. The first story is about Sladjana Vidovic, a Croatian immigrant who’s family moved to a town voted in the top 100 places to live by CNN and Money Magazine. Her suicide is a travesty but equally horrific is the reaction of her tormentors as they walked away from her motionless body at the funeral.
“Suzana Vidovic found her sister’s body hanging over the front lawn. The family watched, she said, as the girls who had tormented Sladjana for months walked up to the casket — and laughed.
“They were laughing at the way she looked,” Suzana says, crying. “Even though she died.”
When will we as a nation insist that our public (and private) schools begin to take a stand for kindness! Kind kids don’t bully. Kindness is ‘monkey see, monkey do’ behavior. Want to turn a school around? Start teaching kindness in the classroom! The kids will try to one up each other! There are so many reinforcements in the media for mean spirited, nasty behavior. Kids are growing up with the perception that mouthing off and being rude or mean is the way adults behave.
As adults, we’ve learned to tune out the messages around us and not become overwhelmed by the impact. But our kids haven’t. We as parents can create teaching moments from that negativity. We can’t make the TV and it’s influences go away, so watch some mean TV with your kids and talk about what they think. You may very well be surprised at their unexpected responses.
