Dealing With Incivility

Dealing With Incivility

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. This nursery rhyme from the 1830’s, created to help children develop self-control in the face of taunting, sets us up to think we have to accept incivility. From an early age, we are told to “toughen up” and ignore others’ insults and […]


What Is Civility?

What is civility?

A Washington Post article offers a startling statistic: 71% of employees are looking for new jobs. The main reason for their job dissatisfaction is employees don’t feel appreciated on the job in two basic way, recognition and compensation. The key word, here is, I think, “appreciated”. Christine Porath, in Mastering Civility: A Manifesto For The Workplace, tells us how incivility […]


What The World Needs Now

What the world needs now

The news events of the past few years, with an overwhelming arc of meanness, disrespect and disregard for others, fractures my heart.  What has happened to common courtesy? Civility? Kindness and respect? What are our children learning from this mean-spirited time? How can we magnify kindness and respect in both children and adults? In this […]


Urgent But Not Important

urgent but not important

Time management is not about managing our time.   Time management is about managing ourselves. We spend our time on activities that are important or not important, urgent or not.   In our world of 24/7 e-mail, computers, text messaging, cell phones and satellite television, urgent and important are easily confused.  For effective self-management we want to focus our […]


SIGN UP | Dealing With Difficult Behaviors In The Classroom

Dealing With Difficult Behaviors

Are you dealing with these aspects of difficult behaviors with children? Parent’s denial about the behavior Lack of strategies on how to assist a child with difficult behaviors Too much time spent supervising a child Handling the stress and frustration of dealing with those children Disruption of the entire class Inappropriate interactions, such as hitting, […]


Creating A Culture That Is Friendly To Error

Create a culture friendly to error

Life is full of mistakes!  Unfortunately, most of us don’t like to admit when we’ve made a mistake.  After a choice I wish I hadn’t made, I’m usually ready to learn from the mistake and move on.  Enough said!  But…in our schools we need to create a feedback loop that encourages others to speak up […]


Planning Meetings With A Purpose

Planning Meetings That Matter

Have you been in a meeting where you squirmed in your seat and thought, “Why am I here?” Right!  Who hasn’t?  Painful, isn’t it? To plan meetings that matter for your next school year, ask yourself these two questions about each event: Why are we having this event? What do we want to do differently after our […]


Is Your Child Getting Enough Vitamin N?

Is your child getting enough Vitamin N/

In about 5 minutes, John Rosemond explains the danger in our children’s lives of not getting enough Vitamin N.   Eye-opening! A big thank you to Prager University for producing and sharing this message. 


Teaching Civility | Articles To Share

Teaching Civility

Here is a list of Kids Talk articles that might help you in your work of teaching civility. Click on the titles to read the entire article.  Asking Permission For many of us it is easier to beg forgiveness than to ask permission. If you really want to do something, why risk being told ”no”? […]


Remember To Do This Every Day

Remember to do this every day.

My college professor walked into the classroom.  “Pop quiz for a hundred points.”  “What the name of the janitor in this building?” Only two out of about 45 students knew the answer.   “What I want you to understand is that everyone in whatever organization you are in is important. Know who they are and […]