"The Bully Too Close to Home"

Beautiful snow floating softly outside, a second cup of coffee on Boxing Day, came across this blog post from Hands Free MAMA: The Bully Too Close to Home. It is beautifully written, please take the time to take a look~ Who among us wouldn't want to be able to say this about our child(ren)? "I was captivated by the utter joy on her[/his] face."

We Use Our Hands for Helping not Hurting

I-Care-Cat, the kindergarteners and first graders recently learned our second I-Care-Cat rule and talked about how to use our hand for helping and not hurting.  We read the book Andy and the Lions.  In the story Andy uses his hands to help the lion remove a thorn, to stop a crowd from hurting the lion, and to take his book back to the library.



Another good book on this topic is Hands Are Not for Hitting





I-Care Cat  hopes the students found a good place to hang their helping hands and caring hearts!

The Listening Walk by Paul Showers

Good Friends Listen to Each Other

We just finished our first round of I-Care-Cat lessons with our Kindergarteners and First Graders.  We talked about listening to each other with our "ears" (big, big ears), "eyes"(looking at the speaker), "month" (not interrupting), and whole bodies (neat feet and quiet hands when on the rug in the library).  We read the book "The Listening Walk" by Paul Showers, closed our eyes and listened to all the interesting sounds around us.  The most memorable comment....

Me: "So....what part of our bodies do we use to listen to each other?"
Student: [with much enthusiasm] "With our hearts!"

Sharing Resources from One of Our Own - Food Allergies

This is a blog recommended by one of our parents with information about food allergies.  Feel free to  check it out~
Blog @ AllergyHome.org

Disclaimer: I have not read every thing on it, nor am I promoting it necessarily...

TEDxToronto - Drew Dudley "Leading with Lollipops"

But Mom! I Had Such Great Memories from This Park!

After a delicious mother-daughter breakfast, we strolled through the Beaver Brook Park en route to our parked car.  A little boy was demonstrating his prowess jumping from boulder to boulder.  With every conquest, he turned and called to his parent, perhaps in search of praise or recognition.  After several failed attempts, he ran back to his grown up and attempted to explain the greatest of his feat.  We both paused to watch the boy gesture enthusiastically, whispering about how adorable he was.  Then it occurred to us that the grown up was not taking note of the child, but continued attending to the smart phone at hand.  My teenage daughter tugged at me and whispered "Mom, this is so sad!  I have such great memories from this park!  His [parent] is missing it ALL!"

Yes, I was a parent before the days of smart phones and cell phones (gasp!).  We played with the children at the park, in the house, in the car.  We pushed the swings from the back and sang about swinging to the moon.  We pushed the swings from the front and talked about bagels, puppies, and Dragon Tales.

As our children grow, we will not be able to control them.  We will want to be able to influence them.  That influence will only come if we know them and they feel known by us.  Let's put the cell phone on vibrate and put it in the back pocket.  Let's give them our full attention.  No text, no post, no email is quite as precious as those moments at the park.