Relationships – Page 2

April 15, 2016

How to Discipline Kids: Managing Lip, Part II

Your child is in her room, device free, cooling off during a time out. Choose a reasonable amount of time to leave her alone. Don’t make it too long. You want to make a point without ruining the whole day. The biggest lesson you’re about to show her is that in your family, you recognize Continue reading

Relationships, Social and emotional development, Speaking and listening, Teaching and Learning

Appropriate punishment, back talk, Family rules, Moving on

April 13, 2016

On Kindergarten Skills for Children

Did you know that today’s kindergartens look like yesterday’s first grades? A kinder garten is supposed to be a “child’s garden,” which means that a kindergarten curriculum centers on child development rather than gulping chunks of academics. Education policy makers and politicians started pushing this change years ago, with the result that everything is now driven Continue reading

Relationships, Speaking and listening

kindergarten curriculum, parents, social emotional development

February 9, 2016

Writing a Love Letter to a Child

Some time ago, my husband and I agreed to stop spending more than $2.00 on a card. Later on, we scratched even the $2.00 and resumed our note writing. I say “resumed” because back in college, we wrote love letters to each other every week for two years. I saved every one of his. Forty years Continue reading

Arts, Celebrations, Relationships

best love letters, love letters to child

May 5, 2015

National Teacher Appreciation Week

Forego the mugs, the trinkets, the gift certificates. I speak for many teachers when I say, “If you must give me something for Teacher Appreciation Week, I’d love a handwritten thank-you note.” It’s the soul of teaching that matters to us teachers. Who could stick to such a difficult profession if there weren’t more than Continue reading

Relationships, Social and emotional development, Teaching and Learning

teacher’s soul, thank teachers, thank you note

April 4, 2015

Teenage Destiny

Many teacher movies are variations on a formula: difficult kids plus an understanding teacher equals transformed lives. Movies usually make it look far easier than this really is. But in To Sir, With Love, teacher Mark Thackeray, played by Sydney Poitier, resonates with lots of secondary teachers. His students are rude, incorrigible, and the boys Continue reading

Relationships, Social and emotional development, Speaking and listening, Teaching and Learning