Summer is almost here! But along with summer fun comes summer slide, the learning loss that occurs when children do no educational activity during the summer months of no school. That loss is real: studies show that most students lose about two months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months. Experts also agree that [...]
NYC educator Alvin Irby is the founder of Barbershop Books, a New York City–based project that puts child friendly reading nooks and a variety of fun and engaging books into neighborhood barbershops, so young Black boys are encouraged to read while they wait for a haircut. With Barbershop Books Irby seeks to connect Black men to Black boys’ early [...]
Parents of teenaged Black boys know about the conversation we are obligated to have with our sons as we send them out into a world in which they can be misjudged and endangered simply because they are teenaged Black boys. Because we need them to stay safe, we know we have to tell them what to do and how [...]
How focused are you on the toxins around you and your sons in your home? The Center for Disease Control has a list of over 200 products that you should avoid. This list can be overwhelming, and avoiding all these products seems pretty unrealistic. However, we thought these were worth mentioning: Plastic food containers: We all use plastic containers [...]
GCP recently had another live event: A conversation with GCP mom Kathryn Chenault. Kathryn, an attorney who stepped away from her professional life to devote time and effort to raising her two sons (who are now wonderful young men in their 20′s), graciously hosted us at her glorious home. Beautiful surroundings, great weather, and wonderful advice from a boy mom [...]
The Wall Street Journal recently revealed news which should gladden the hearts of parents of teenagers everywhere: "cognitive empathy", the wiring in children's brains that enables them to understand and care about how others think, only begins to develop at age 13. So when your sweet middle schooler disappears and is replaced by an eye-rolling, door slamming "who is [...]
Are you or your sons STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) enthusiasts? Do you want to be? Sounds like the new show "The Big Brain Theory: Pure Genius" premiering on the Discovery Channel tomorrow (May 1) is right up your alley. This show will feature an impossible sounding engineering challenge each week which teams of skilled contestants will attempt to [...]
As college admissions results roll in, here's some good news to consider: For the fourth year in a row, all of the 167 seniors in Chicago's Urban Prep Academies schools have been accepted into four year colleges or universities. The Urban Prep Academy network has expanded since GCP reported their success last year ("And Now For Some Good News [...]
How can we help our wonderful, maddening, lovable, frustrating, genius, unmotivated, spectacular sons grow into healthy and happy young men? In our ongoing efforts to seek parenting advice and info from people who have made finding answers to these kinds of questions their life's work, GCP connected with Dr. Michael G. Thompson, the renowned clinical psychologist and boy guru [...]
Last night I had the incredible pleasure of sitting at a friend's small dinner party for Jazz at Lincoln Center and listening to Wynton Marsalis jam with his quintet in her living room(!). As Wynton introduced their final piece, "Take the A Train", he mentioned that he had the opportunity to meet Duke Ellington back in 1971, when he [...]