Ok GCP parents, time to turn away from the seemingly endless stream of national bad news coming at us and focus on some good news about African American men. A team of researchers from The University of Virginia, The Institute of Family Studies and Columbia University recently released a report, "Black Men Making It in America" which reveals that [...]
Did you know that today is National Summer Learning Day? (We didn’t either, and thanks to Bill Lewis for bringing this to GCP’s attention.) With over 6 weeks to go until the end of August, there is still plenty of time to encourage your son or daughter to focus on sharpening his or her skills during the summer. No [...]
If you have any children 5 years old or younger, you need to know about Vroom, an amazing set of resources and activities which you can use to help their young brains develop and grow strong. Vroom offers over 1000 activities for parents which turn everyday moments into “brain building moments”, giving children a strong base for lifetime learning. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Hello GCP'ers! Yes, it has been a while, and while it is not actually Thursday, (let's call it "Thursday Plus") here is a lovely Thoughtful Thursday poem for you all, "Blessing the Boats" by the renowned African American poet Lucille Clifton (1936-2010). Born in Depew, New York in 1936, Clifton's first book of poetry was published in 1969. She [...]