Hope all you GCP dads had a terrific Father's Day! In your honor, today's Thoughtful Thursday presents three poems which pay tribute to fathers. First, a sentimental, heart-warming salute to hard working Dads everywhere in "Only a Dad" by Edgar Guest (1881-1959). Then, a GCP favorite, "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden (1913-1980), which also recognizes a father's daily [...]
When we talk about raising boys, we often speak of teaching them how to become men. And we view "manhood", (which tends to involve some combination of strength, squashing down feelings and being stoic) as the target at which we are aiming our boys; it is the goal of their adolescence. But a new book suggests that encouraging our [...]
In celebration of Pride Month, today's Thoughtful Thursday features works by LBGTQ poets. Some of these poets have been featured in many Thoughtful Thursdays, like June Jordan (1936-2002) and Audrey Lorde (1934-1992), and others, like E. Ethelbert Miller (b. 1950) and Blas Falconer, are new to these pages. The voice of the other, the ones less heard, is strong [...]
I always encouraged (required, actually) my children’s friends to call me Mrs. Lewis, and I insisted that my children call most adults Mr. or Mrs./Ms. as well. If the parents were really good friends, they became “Aunt” and “Uncle” to our kids, and we were the same to theirs. But that was the only exception. Once my children started [...]
On Friday morning, GCP was LIVE at the Corporate Counsel Men of Color Conference in Washington D.C. The topic: "Father and Son Dynamics: 10 Ways to Be a Better Parent to Your Son". The panelists were Rev. Dr. Grainger Browning, Jr., Senior Pastor of Washington D.C.'s Ebenezer A.M.E. Church; Chef Jeff Henderson, Chef, Author and Host of "Flip My [...]
At the end of every school year, my mom would make a date with my brother and me for a night out to celebrate. She was an elementary school teacher, so we were all celebrating having finished up another year. We would usually go out to dinner, and then to a movie (for several years running, we saw "Shaft" [...]
Happy Belated Memorial Day! We are just a few days past the holiday, so on this Thoughtful Thursday we will extend the celebration with a few inspirational quotes honoring the men and women in the military who have died while serving our country. Have you talked with your children about the significance of Memorial Day, and how much the [...]
As school winds down for the year, now is the time to focus on how you can help your sons and daughters stay on top of their academic game throughout the summer. As you probably know, when math and reading skills aren’t practiced over the summer, kids can lose 2 to 3 months of progress—that's the dreaded "Summer Slide". [...]
As the school year comes to an end, is it time for your high school son or daughter to start thinking about college? We've got some tips on starting the process! The course that I developed and taught at Hunter College in April, "The Inside Guide to NYC Parenting", continued its second two weeks with a focus on College [...]
Alabama. Yesterday Alabama governor Kay Ivey signed into law a bill that outlaws almost all abortions performed in the state. Doctors who perform abortions in Alabama now run the risk of arrest, felony conviction, and a sentence of up to 99 years in prison. As the New York Times recently noted, this sets up a direct challenge to Roe [...]
