Persistence

 In the middle of suburbia, in a strip mall no less, we discovered a surprise from nature, the crimson seeds of the mountain laurel hiding within tan seed pods. Fall always amazes me with the sheer number of seeds that plants produce, seeming to know what kind of persistence it takes for even one to […]

Footfive

Last night at bedtime, when our son refused to hug or say goodnight, Michael offered him the option of a “footfive.” “Sure!” he said. Like a high five, but done foot-to-foot, a “footfive” is one of the options we’ve developed over the years to give our kids ways to connect with us that are different […]

Fart

Conversation overhead at a school: Dad: How was your day? Son: Great! I farted in the middle of class! Many children, especially many boys, enjoy literature about farts, if you’re willing to consider fart and literature in the same sentence. No two ways about it–the surprise, the disgust, the visceral experience captures their attention nearly […]

Reset

In attempting this 40 consecutive days of blogging, I’ve stumbled once before and missed one day. Then for the past few days, you could say I’ve been in face plant mode, missing many days! I deeply apologize and take responsibility. For a second I thought, How humiliating! Maybe I should just give up. Then  I wondered […]

Nature

Yesterday, as we read about the sensation felt by children in Thailand sinking their feet into rice paddies, gentle rain tickled our own feet. Under an awning, we sat on the “back porch” of our new center for The Living Bridge Academy, our day program. With all of our senses engaged as we read, no […]

Yet

Short and powerful, the word “yet” gives you an effective tool for helping children work through frustration. Here’s how you can use it, based on suggestions from the book Choice Words. If your child tells you, “I can’t!” and shows signs of distress or anger, use the phrase, “Not yet.”  Seems almost too good to […]

Cycles

Our class fish, Sky, died a week ago. The picture shows him on his first day with us, a light purple flash swimming near the green plant. Even though we’d all experienced the death of pets before, the moment still shook us up. One of our students, age nine, who found our fish floating, said […]