Category Archive:
Children’s basic needs

FREE WEBINAR: Understanding How Children Learn To Read

understanding how children learn to read

Want FUN activities to do with preschoolers? Want to feel confident about children’s reading? In Understanding How Children Learn To Read, you’ll learn: Skills essential to reading success Common developmental obstacles Why one important skill is overlooked How you can help, all in a FUN way! Parent or teacher, you’ll get FUN tips to help […]


When to Ask, When to Tell

when to ask when to tell

Fostering cooperation in our children can be a blood-pressure-altering event. With so many chores that need to be done during the day, we can feel like a drill sergeant, police officer and the Wicked Witch of the West, all rolled into one. To avoid appearing to our children as the triumvirate of meanness and control, […]


Kids Say the Darnedest Things

Kids Say The Darnedest Things

There is magnetism with a 2 1/2- to 3-year-old and their ability to blurt out observations in public. These comments can make us understand, that, yes, we are paying for our raising. One teaching principle that I’ve found helpful to alleviate mortifying moments is the idea of indirect preparation. If you know it’s coming, prepare. […]


Think

think

Thomas Watson of IBM fame posted one-word notices around IBM factories and offices. THINK, read the signs. When a book about IBM and Tom Watson appeared, it was no surprise that the title was Think. Think. That seems to be a word that we, too, could post around our homes, schools and office to great […]


Strong Families Create Success

strong families create success

In Betty Smith’s classic, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, she tells the story of a young girl Francie Nolan in the early 1900’s, living with her family in the tenements. There wasn’t enough food. Her father drank up his paycheck, and her school rolled in chaos and neglect. Francie’s family owned two books: The Bible and The […]


Beware of the Tree Octopus

beware of the tree octopus

A newsletter from the Core Knowledge Foundation introduced me to the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. Going to the octopus’ website I found photos of the red octopus in a tree. The red octopus is usually found in the ocean off the coasts of Oregon and Washington. But here was an explanation that the now land-lubbing […]


Success Is Not An Outlier

success is not an outlier

Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers, makes a case for understanding successful people. We may think that someone is a self-made person, that they had overnight success or were born with talent to burn. Gladwell asks us to look closer at the components of success. Ambition and intelligence are not enough to create people who thrive. […]


Spontaneous Self-Discipline

spontaneous self-discipline

An indicator of healthy and normal development in children (and adults, too!) is the presence of self-discipline that seems to appear almost out of nowhere.  In reality, there are factors that contribute significantly to the development of self-discipline in the child and adult. As a child’s will is strengthened by the use of free choice, […]


Independence

independence

We are raising adults, not children. Our job as parents (and parent support systems) is to guide our children to complete independence. Little by little, day by day, we help our children develop skills and take on more responsibility until they can run at full speed on their own two feet. Unfortunately, it is often […]


The Power To Act From Real Choice

power to act from real choice

My husband likes to stop and indulge in an Italian dessert at our local gelato shop. On any given day there may be thirty different varieties of gelato on display. New and untried flavors, such as mango/lime, are frequent. My husband usually asks to taste five or six flavors before deciding on two scoops. “How […]