First Days of School — Be Nice to the New Kid Month
By September 7th, most kids up to the age of 18 will be back in school in the U.S. so I’ve designated September as National ‘Be Nice to the New Kid Month. “Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.” —Blaise Pascal If you’ve ever had to walk into a school knowing no one, I don’t […]
Plz Help Me
I’ve taken my foot off the pedal the past few months. I have to admit to fatigue. At times, I feel like a cheerleader for a team that only wins a few games a year and can’t seem to fill a stadium. The issue of bullying finally started getting some attention for, unfortunately, tragic reasons. […]
Did You Ever Know Red Hood Doing Some Good Down By The Bay?
Raffi randomly came up in a conversation my husband and I were having the other day about how frustrating it must be to be a “pioneer.” We were discussing how we knew people 25 years ago that were talking about climate change and when a few of my “far out” cousins were discussing nutrition, we […]
Kid President says #Makeithappy Online
Once again, Kid President is full of good ideas. Seems as if Coca Cola thinks so, too. Whether we’re the type of parents who diligently talk to our children about online safety or the type of parents who are afraid of our children’s “new neighborhood” and just hope for the best, most of us don’t […]
Reading, Pajamas and the Little Leaders Among Us
I met the most extraordinary boy yesterday through the Pajama Program. (Please click the link if you want to find out about the coolest organization doing something simply spectacular…inspiring reading and providing warm pajamas to under served kids.) Shane, age 8, and I were reading the book Frieda B. It’s a whimsical book about imagination […]
Teaching Our Kids How to MEDABO
Last week I handed out three MEDABO cards in very unlikely places. Two were on the 15X express bus from Staten Island to Manhattan and the other one was on the #4 subway. MEDABO is a family charity. My father used to tell the kids to go out and make every day a better one […]
“Leadership is the Anti-Bully” Month
Thanks to the Pacer Center, October has been declared Bullying Prevention Month. Since I work mainly with Pre-K through elementary schools, I would respectfully like to rename it “Leadership is the Anti-Bully” Month. At these ages, we should remove the labels of “bully,” “victim or target” and teach children skills. Learning how to respect […]
National Be Nice to the New Kid Day
By September 7th, most kids up to the age of 18 will be back in school in the U.S. so I’ve designated the 7th as National ‘Be Nice to the New Kid Day.’ “Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.” —Blaise Pascal If you’ve ever had to walk into a school knowing no […]
The Silent Soul Crusher of #Bullying
Sometimes it’s not the words that hurt, it’s the shrug of the shoulders, it’s the no eye contact, it’s the looking through a person and not at them. It’s the absence of words. Message is received. You’re not important. Your heart shrinks a little more. Kids know when their peers or even adults are not […]
Chain of Leadership as the Anti-Bully
The 2013-2014 school year was full of light bulb moments. It started out with this thought: What if we gave young students the chance to shine as leaders? What if we spent as much time creating opportunities for them to practice their leadership skills as we did talking to them about bullying? What if we […]
