It's officially Spring! To celebrate the season, the Spring Breaks some of our children are enjoying this week, the worst of the winter storms behind us (we hope), this Thoughtful Thursday offers some Spring poetry. Today's we have odes to Spring from several masters: two poems by the great African American poet Claude McKay, one by the renowned Puerto [...]
March 17th is St. Patrick's Day. While skimming through poetry relating to St. Patrick's Day, frankly expecting to find nothing to hit my fancy, I was pleasantly surprised to run across a poem celebrating motherhood which, while written about an Irish mother, has universal application. I also found a couple of lovely Irish blessings which we all can use. [...]
Cybersecurity is very much in the news these days. How savvy are you and your children about protecting yourself in cyberspace? The Christian Science Monitor recently published "Cybersecurity in Seven Minutes, found here, which gives a quick and info packed summary of how to keep yourself safe online. Once you've gotten smart on how to protect yourself, time to [...]
In celebration of Women's History Month, today's Thoughtful Thursday features poems by well known African-American women poets: "won't you celebrate with me" by Lucille Clifton, "Legacies" by Nikki Giovanni, and "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou. The following biographies, courtesy of poetryfoundation.org, gives you some insight into their brilliance. A prolific and widely respected poet, Lucille Clifton's work emphasizes endurance [...]
Yesterday was International Women's Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. March is National Women's History Month, so these achievements can and should receive a month-long celebration. As with Black History Month, we really shouldn't limit the celebration of such achievement to just 31 of 365 days each year, and we won't, [...]
Is your high schooler or college student thinking about what he will be doing this summer? He needs to be! The hunt for high school and college summer jobs is in full swing, with deadlines for many opportunities coming up very soon. (Note for next year: the best time to start looking around is in early January, because some [...]
Some Life Lessons from the Oscars last night for us to pass on to our sons (and daughters): The importance of telling our stories: Tarrell Alvin McCraney, who along with Barry Jenkins won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for “Moonlight”, dedicated their Oscar to “all those black and brown boys and girls and non–gender conforming who don’t see [...]
Yesterday we said our last goodbyes to President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. We watched them get on that helicopter with our hearts full of gratitude and pride. Today we watch women across the globe march for equal rights and against the new administration. There is a lot to process, a lot to get ready for, a lot [...]
In honor of Dr. King's birthday, here are some of his many wise words. Let us all share some of Dr. King's wisdom with our sons and daughters as we celebrate his life. Enjoy! “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” “We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of [...]
Happy New Year GCP! Every year we all talk about making resolutions and ways we are going to change in 2017. Here at GCP we want to suggest a few things that parents should not change, but should keep doing in 2017: 1) Stay focused on being a thoughtful and conscious parent: Listening to your son, and paying careful [...]