National Summer Learning Week, July 8 - 13, is a celebration of keeping kids learning, safe, and healthy every summer, ensuring they return to school in the fall ready to succeed in the year. Established over 25 years ago by the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA), the celebration this year will have a daily focus on a different theme: [...]
It's Independence Day! We celebrate this Thoughtful Thursday on our nation's birthday with two poems from one of our most beloved poets, Langston Hughes (1902-1967). In "I Too", Hughes imagines a future in which he will truly be seen as an American. In "Let America Be America Again", he laments that the principals of freedom on which our nation was [...]
Summer's here and it's time to make sure your kids are set with their summer reading booklists, goals and plans. Here are some tips and resources to help you get going: Scholastic Read-a-Palooza Summer Reading Challenge: Once again, children's book publisher Scholastic is offering a great summer reading program for children of all ages. After signing up on the [...]
School's out or almost out for most of our children. Reports cards have been issued or are on their way. Your children are undoubtably relieved and happy that another school year is done, and everyone's thoughts are turning to summer vacation. But before you close the chapter on the last school year, why not spend some time [...]
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 [...]
