On this Thoughtful Thursday our thoughts could be on nothing else but the incredible failure of another grand jury to indict a police officer for killing an unarmed Black man. And using an illegal chokehold to take him down as a cellphone camera recorded the entire thing, so there is no question as to what transpired. As this is [...]
We have all heard and seen the aftermath of the Ferguson grand jury's decision not to indict Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown. We've had many conversations with our friends and colleagues about what a failure to indict means for the Brown family, for Ferguson, for black boys everywhere. But as time passes after this decision, we at GCP [...]
We have all heard and seen the aftermath of the Ferguson grand jury's decision not to indict Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown. We've had many conversations with our friends and colleagues about what a failure to indict means for the Brown family, for Ferguson, for black boys everywhere. But as time passes after this decision, we at GCP [...]
Happy Thanksgiving to you all from GCP! Even though we took Thursday off to celebrate with family and friends and stuff ourselves silly, we could not let this week pass without a Thoughtful Thursday for the holiday. And so today we offer a lineup of Thanksgiving inspired poetry from African American poets. First, the very appropriate "Thanksgiving Time" from [...]
With much of the nation focused on the cold weather these days, Today's Thoughtful Thursday follows suit, featuring poems about the chilly days of Fall. In "Fall, Leaves, Fall" Emily Bronte celebrates the season's change from fall to winter, and in "Winter Trees" William Carlos Williams writes approvingly of the changes that winter brings. Claude McKay encourages us to [...]
We at GCP have been thinking a lot about the impact of technology on child rearing. Tablets, phones and computer screens can enhance children's development, increase their school readiness, and introduce them to ideas and places to which they might not otherwise have any access. But they also can be distracting, overwhelming, and can interfere with or even impair [...]
How many of us have told our sons to "study smarter, not harder?" Sounds good, but how do you actually do that? In the recently published book, "How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where and Why It Happens", New York Times science reporter Benedict Carey looks at the science of learning to try to answer this question. [...]
Even though Election Day has come and gone, we can continue to have conversations with our sons about the importance of voting. Today's Thoughtful Thursday is the poem "Vote of Die", written by Margaret Block, a civil rights activist and member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. In this poem she champions some of the unsung heroes of the civil [...]
If your son is applying to boarding school or college this fall you may well be in the thick of school visits these days. Here are a few tips for making these visits as productive as possible for you and your son: Encourage your son to commit to this process of looking at schools, no matter how confused or [...]
O.K. all you parents who are either in the midst of the school application process for your pre-school or kindergarden son or have submitted your applications and are counting down the months until you are scheduled to hear the responses, take a deep breath and let it go slowly. Time for a reality check. We've all heard the depressing [...]