As I talked with a good friend recently about our sons and their social lives, he quoted an old saying that rang so true: "Show me his friends and I'll show you his future." Our sons will most certainly have a lot of friends over the course of their childhood and adolescence. But at some point he will develop [...]
Hope all of your sons are settling well into the new school year. Here is a GCP Checklist of things to do/keep your eyes on as the year begins: Meet the teachers: There will certainly be an open school night or some other formal opportunity to meet teachers, and you shouldn't miss that. But you should try to meet [...]
Giving constructive criticism to our sons so that they hear and accept it can be so tough, especially when our boys are in their middle and high school years. Constructive criticism lets them know they could do something better without blaming or shaming them. Takes a lot of parenting skill to get this right! We at GCP believe strongly [...]
Few of us will ever forget where we were and what we were doing when we heard about the Twin Towers collapsing on September 11, 2001. Those of us who were in New York City on that day can surely remember all the events of that day fourteen years ago like it was yesterday. But many of our younger [...]
So our sons are back in school, and settling into the routine of early rising, a full day in the classroom, and homework after school. After a summer of focusing on them, we can breathe a sigh of relief and get back to focusing on our lives, right? Not exactly. Our sons will greatly benefit from our paying careful [...]
This morning's New York Times reported yet another innocent young Black man being gunned down on the street. NeShawn Plummer, 16, was killed in Far Rockaway, Queens, caught in a spray of bullets aimed at a crowd of teens on a street corner. Police suspect it was a gang related attack and are seeking two suspects. Incredibly, his brother [...]
GCP has been checking out back to school articles for parents on line, and we think these are especially worth reading: The 8 EdTech Questions Every Parent Should Ask Schools This Year: An educational technology consultant has compiled a list of questions for parents to ask at their children's schools. Unless you are an edtech expert yourself, or have [...]
Parents, here is some help with getting your sons ready for success in the coming school year: Summer Learning: www.education.com has tons of customizable and printable worksheets for students from kindergarten through high school. Print out a few from last year's grade and encourage your son to dust off the cobwebs and review the material. Or if he is [...]
Hello GCPers, It has been a while since a new post has appeared, due to a ridiculously persistent bout of bronchitis. As I have been resting and coughing over the past few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about this blog. I believe so strongly in its mission-- to aid, guide and inspire parents of boys of color-- and [...]
The Chautauqua Institution presented a week of thoughtful and interesting commentary about the development of boys into men last week, and I was thrilled to have been asked to bring the GCP perspective to the conversation. I joined Dr. Gregory Hess, President of Wabash College in a talk with Dr. Robert Franklin, Director of Religion at the Chautauqua Institution [...]