Children don’t misbehave, says Dr. Thomas Gordon, author of the best selling book, Parent Effectiveness Training (P.E.T). Wait a second, you say. Whoa! Everywhere you look there are children misbehaving. Dr. Gordon says that children’s actions are judged as misbehaviors when those behaviors come into conflict with the desires of parents and other adults. What […]
“Humans would degenerate without the child to help him rise. If the adult does not waken little by little, a hard crust will form around him and make him insensible.” ~ Dr. Maria Montessori, The Secret of Childhood, page 106 Being in the city is interesting, to say the least. Surrounded by world-class restaurants with […]
“No man is free who is not master of himself.”—Epictetus A flower begins with a seed sprouting from the earth with the seed leaves coming out of the ground first. The plant grows a stalk, and sends out more leaves. On the stalk or branches of the plant, small buds form and are protected by […]
“Concentration and distractibility are particular sensitive indicators of a variety of conditions affecting children. Highly concentrated activity suggests that the child’s finding satisfaction and challenge in a task. Distractibility suggests trouble of some kind, social, psychological or whatnot.” –Jerome Bruner, Under Five in Britain Zach began the 18th hole of miniature golf. Twelve-year-old Zach was […]
There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.—Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 1949 A visit to a toy store in a California beach town uncovered a new product, a mud pie […]
The troubling nature of censorship is clearer when it falls on the very young. A certain kind of silence, that which comes from holding back the truth, is abusive itself to the child. The soul has a natural movement toward knowledge, so that not to know can be to despair. In the paucity of explanation […]
Attention deficit to attention abundance Nine million prescriptions were written last year in the United States for school aged children for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). In 1975 roughly 150,000 children were taking Ritalin. In 2003, the latest figures available, about 6 million American children took Ritalin. Drugging children to get them to behave seems […]
“The manager’s job, then, is not to motivate people to get them to achieve; instead, the manager should provide opportunities for people to achieve so they will become motivated.” – Frederick Herzberg Charlie walked over with the teaching clock. “I’ve learned to tell time. Do any time and I can tell you.” Five-year-old Charlie sat […]
A fishbowl full of candy sat on the third grade teacher’s desk. “When you’ve finished your math assignment you can choose a piece of candy,” Ms. Marsh said as she handed out worksheets. All but two of the students went to work. Tamika and Jennifer looked out the window, math sheets untouched. Tamika began her […]
Tired and agitated, Sara got ready for bed. What had happened to the day? She had woken up fresh that morning, ready to have a productive day. During breakfast, Sara’s assistant called to alert Sara that she wouldn’t be in to copy the reports for the next day’s meeting. When Sara went to make copies […]