Today's Thoughtful Thursday features a delightful video from PBS News Hour in which author Jason Reynolds explains how poetry can help reluctant readers learn to love literature. Reynolds notes, "The separate stanzas aid and perpetuate a kind of incremental reading one small chunk at a time" which makes it much more approachable and enjoyable. Definitely worth viewing--it will inspire [...]
A recent New York Times article found here brings alarming news for parents: a parasite that is often found in stray dogs and cats has been found across the nation in places where children play, and children exposed to the parasite could develop problems with their breathing, liver function, eyesight and their cognitive skills. Don't want to be an [...]
Although more and more of the recent GCP posts have been gender neutral, today's post takes us back to our roots with a focus on our boys. So here's a timely question: Are we doing all we can to raise our boys to respect girls and women, fight gender stereotypes, and understand the importance of gender equality? Probably not, [...]
If you are on the East Coast as we are, you are are experiencing the aftermath a snowstorm of epic proportions, which has been called a "bomb cyclone", "bombogenesis" and a winter hurricane. Whatever you want to call it, it has dumped a lot of snow on us, and the winds are whipping around at high speeds and at [...]
On the last day of 2017, GCP wants to wish all of you a very Happy New Year! Hope the holidays have been happy, and that you and all of your amazing, delightful children have great things ahead in 2018. As I look ahead to 2018, I see that the change that has been on the horizon has arrived. [...]
Anxiety is a normal and developmentally appropriate emotion in children which can even be helpful, e.g., motivating them to study for an upcoming test. But anxiety is truly problematic and becomes a disorder when it impairs basic functioning or causes serious, often physical distress. What should we do to help our children with this? A recent Wall Street Journal [...]
As we hope everyone knows, last night the state of Alabama elected Doug Jones to the U.S. Senate. Jones, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama who prosecuted the Klan, beat Judge Roy Moore, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, who was twice elected to and then ousted from that position for refusing to [...]
Summer camp planning in December? Yes! It is not too early to start thinking about what your children will be doing in the summer of 2018. Camps start filling their spaces in earnest in January, but camp consultants are already hosting events this month to introduce parents to a variety of summer opportunities for children. What kind of activities [...]
As a seemingly endless stream of public figures are being fired for sexual harassment these days, the time is NOW to talk with our children about this topic. But how? There are two conversations to be had here: we need to have the "What is sexual harassment and why is it all over the news now?" conversation with all [...]
Since we will be taking a break from posting on Thanksgiving day itself, today's Thoughtful Thursday offers up some Thanksgiving poetry for you and your family to enjoy. We begin with two poems from Paul Lawrence Dunbar (1872-1906), who was one of the first African American poets to gain national recognition. You will note the distinctively different voices in [...]