On the day after Independence Day, today's Thoughtful Thursday offerings give us food for thought about celebrating these United States at a time where we feel so far from united. The first is a series of excerpts from Frederick Douglass' "What to the Slave is The Fourth of July", a powerful speech he gave to a group of New [...]
This has been a rough week for social justice lovers. Today's Thoughtful Thursday offers a few thoughtful poems to help you get through, beginning with a classic poem from Langston Hughes in honor of Independence Day. Enjoy. Let America Be America Again Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be [...]
Miles and Malik George, twin brothers who were co-valedictorians at their Woodbridge High School graduation last week, are both headed to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the fall. The George brothers, who got their last B's in third grade, both set their sites on MIT as high school freshmen, and worked towards this goal, both making near [...]
Today's Thoughtful Thursday is dedicated to the memory of Antwon Rose, 17, of East Pittsburgh. Another young black man gunned down by a police officer, shot and killed while running away. What possible harm could a police officer have believed himself to be in from a young man running away from him? In memory of Antwon Rose and the [...]
The American Academy of Pediatrics recently released a statement encouraging parents to ban direct screen time (television, movies, and any portable screen device) for children under two years of age. The Academy explained, “This updated policy statement provides further evidence that media — both foreground and background — have potentially negative effects and no known positive effects for children [...]
How many times have your heard your child say "Ugh, I can't get this!" or "This will never work!" and throw down his pencil in dismay? While your first instinct might be to rush over to try to help fix the problem, or to encourage your child by saying "you're so smart, you can figure it out", researchers say [...]
Today's Thoughtful Thursday poem is from DéLana R. A. Dameron. Dameron, a South Carolina native, is the author of How God Ends Us, a collection of poems selected by Elizabeth Alexander for the 2008 South Carolina Poetry Book Prize. Dameron’s poetry, non-fiction and fiction have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies and she has received fellowships from the Constance [...]
The recent tragic deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain have made suicide a topic of conversation in the news and across our nation. How are you talking with your children about suicide? GCP has covered this topic over the years ("Are You OK? Focusing on Our Sons' Mental Health" and "
It's time to take stock of where Ground Control Parenting has been and where it is going--with your help. In 2011 I started writing GCP to support and inspire parents raising boys of color. Over the past 7 years I've been posting practical information on what works (and what doesn't) to encourage and inspire our boys to do their [...]
You may have heard about “ summer slide”, where over the summer students can lose two to three months of progress in math and reading and fall behind when they return to school in the fall. But did you know that by the time a student gets to the 5th grade, the summer learning loss can add up to [...]