Parents and teachers would do well to observe Yom Kippur all year round
A two-year-old boy entered a Montessori classroom clinging to his mother. While she talked to the teacher, he hung on her leg looking anxiously around the room. He cried when she left and glued himself to the window. One teacher remained seated eight feet away, calmly watching, waiting, engaging with a student who showed her an apple, then helping another unscrew a cap.
What would you make of this bad behavior?
Ashley was pushing her daughter Ella in the stroller through Nordstrom to the men’s department to buy a shirt for father’s day.
At the foot of the escalator Ella said: “Can we go up to the video?”
“Not this time, Sweetie,” responded Ashley. “I want you to stay with me, so I can just find a shirt for Daddy, and then we can go.” Continue reading
Genius: (n) the tutelary spirit of a person, place or institution.
At sundown yesterday, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year started. I always felt that it was part of the genius of Judaism that they had the wisdom to start the new year when the children go back to school. (Yes, yes, I know they decided to do that long before there even was school.) It’s just that for my whole remembered life (starting at the age of 3) the new year started in September when school opened.
Eaglebrook School had a tradition (do they still?) that the opening assembly of the new year ended with the declaration: “You are new.” Continue reading
Finding genius is not about finding ability. Finding genius is about unlocking the creative potential of the human brain.
Reality Parenting
Bob and Carol have a blended family with two children each. Carol’s son Ben at 13 is the oldest of the four. Both parents work, so one of the challenges they have is having family time, all six of them together. Another challenge is finding time to be alone—just the two of them.
One Sunday, recently, Ben was ragging on his mother Continue reading