It is National Teacher Day! Let's take a few moments to think about special teachers who have influenced our lives and the lives of our children. My favorite teacher from my elementary school was Mrs. Portia Paterson of Public School 116 in Queens, New York. Mrs. Paterson was my third grade teacher, and even though third grade was a [...]
As we continue to hear news from Boston following the multiple explosions that have rocked that city, we should be mindful that our children are hearing this news as well. GCP covered the topic of how to talk with your children about tragedy after the Newtown massacre ("How Do We Talk to Our Children About Newtown?" December 17, 2012); [...]
Nearly one in five high school age boys in the United States and 11 percent of school-age children over all have received a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (A.D.H.D.), according to new data from the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention compiled by the New York Times and reported in a recent article found here. The data [...]
Two recent news items give us food for thought with respect to the development of a young person's self-esteem. Yesterday's New York Times features an article found here about Joel Baumann, a young African-American sophomore on the University of Minnesota's wrestling team who is also an aspiring singer and rapper. His latest video, "One's in the Sky", which urges [...]
Good teaching matters, and good teachers can make the difference in how well students learn regardless of how the students performed in previous years. Parents know this instinctively, as we angle to get our children in the good teachers' classrooms from pre-school days on. Our instinct has been recently confirmed by a study funded by the Bill and Melinda [...]
With Thanksgiving less than a week away, thoughts turn towards the family meal. Holidays aside, how often do you and your children eat dinner together as a family? After-school, sports and work schedules can make gathering for family meals tough to organize on a regular basis. But researchers at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at [...]
"Teenage Bedroom as Battleground", a recent NY Times article found here, offers parents advice on how to cope with their messy teens. Those of you who have figured out how to crack the whip at home so that your teens regularly pick up after themselves around the house and always keep their rooms neat without your intervention, skip to [...]
The last post introduced the education experts at yesterday's panel discussion, "How All Children Succeed", and noted their focus on the critical role parents play in their children's education. Today's focus is on two other important issues raised in that discussion: Managing Stress and the Benefits of Failure. Managing Stress Having been a practicing child psychiatrist for eighteen years, [...]
This morning I attended a fascinating panel discussion of educational issues hosted by Kimberly Morgan, President of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. The discussion, "How All Children Succeed", was moderated by Michele Norris, host of National Public Radio's All Things Considered, and featured the following great group of panelists: Paul Tough, author of "How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the [...]
How do you talk to your sons and daughters about spending and saving money? Teaching our children financial responsibility is one of the most important and beneficial things parents can do. Forbes.com's article "Raising Financially Savvy Kids", found here, features helpful teaching tips from Mary Hunt's recently released book, "Raising Financially Confident Kids". Hunt recommends starting financial conversations early, [...]