HOPE

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"life lessons", hope, life, new, past, poem, poetry, restoration, spirituality

On the floor by the door,

Lay the pieces of my life,

Bits of broken dreams,

Shattered by his schemes:

Innocence wasted, deceit tasted,

Hope deferred.

But somehow from the ruined scraps,

Something new conceived,

Holy and ancient, Hope,

Rekindled in the ashes of my dreams:

Bits of broken glass,

Released finally to the past,

Dustpan used, brokenness fused,

Hope restored.

bjb2002

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What Ever Happened to IMAGINATION?

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"breast-feeding doll", "free play", "life lessons", children, choices, education, freedom, imagination, parenting, pressure, priorities, toddlers

Breast-Feeding Doll Video

This story has crept across the web from news pages to social networks. Do Breast-Feeding Dolls Cross The Line? I understand the commotion! The same week we read about push-up bikini tops for 8 yr old girls, and the distributor compromises by saying they’ll remove the “push-up” part of the description, we are then shown these dolls that produce a sucking sound when held against the chest of a child wearing the accompanying nursing garment.

The arguments I hear center on the sexuality of the issues. My argument is more fundamental. My concern is the lack of explorative imagination involved in both of these items. First, part of the fun of being a “little” girl is wanting to grow up, wanting our body to grow and change into that of a young woman. We IMAGINE what it will be like to be teens, to have a woman’s body. We IMAGINE what a loving relationship will be like. We IMAGINE the joy of pregnancy and birth and all that accompanies those events. We can explore the possibilities freely just using our IMAGINATION.

As adults, we already put so much pressure on our children to perform … to be moulded into what WE believe a healthy child should be. We listen to that expert and this article, that talk show host and, of course, our mothers-in-law! When do our children get to be KIDS? We arrange “play dates” for them with the playmates of OUR choosing and that often includes the activity we’ve chosen. How much FREE time do our children have to cultivate their imaginations?

Our culture seems to be moving toward the production of clones, all children squeezed into a specific mould, “one-size-fits-all,” with the priority of “success” at any cost. The heck with morality. The heck with genuine creativity. The heck with individuality. The heck with imagination! The means justifies the end. After all, isn’t that success?

Is this where we really want to go???

What’s Wrong with Public Schools, Anyway?

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American Conservative, American Interests, American Moral Character, American Morality, Conservative opinion, Democrat

Some folks are always complaining about something. Lately, I’ve heard much ado about our public schools and their lack of success. What IS the mission of the public school system?

The overall consensus is the success of our students is the general mission of school, but how are we defining success? Is it success to memorize the information dished out by programmed teachers taught to deny the individuality of students only to regurgitate that same information on standardized tests? Our teachers must “teach to the test” in order to get passable numbers when students take these standardized tests so the schools can receive government funding. If the school’s numbers do not reveal “success” in the numbers, their funding is decreased.

The whole system is bassackwards! Students are not inspired to learn, but rather they are used as pawns in the numbers game. Teachers are not rewarded for teaching, but for repetitious review of the test points in their subject area.

Since the early 1980’s, the education community has been aware that all students are NOT created equal. On the contrary, each student is unique with individual skills and abilities – multiple intelligences, as Howard Gardner called them. The powerful NEA supports this information, yet has made no allowances, no strides in teaching pedagogy to reflect their acknowledgement of multiple intelligences. The result is that a few, those with linguistic and mathematical intelligences, are catered to with the curriculum and pedagogy, while those strong in the other 7+ areas of intelligence are all but ignored and left to flounder. Often these students are ridiculed and harassed by students and teachers for their “lack of performance.”

Bullying is a big issue these days, but my observation is that bullying starts at the top with our teachers. It only takes one irresponsible teacher to harass a student and other students will quickly latch on and carry on the ridicule. Presently, there is no trustworthy “policing” of teachers. Instead, once they are tenured, it is virtually impossible to discipline a teacher unless a felony is committed.

I taught high school for nearly a decade in the 90’s. The power and realm of influence of the NEA could accomplish great things for the children of America if so inclined. Rather, they choose to wield their power in the political arena, protecting the system’s status quo. Until students are recognized as uniquely gifted individuals and treated as such, bullying will flourish and “success” will rest on the numbers game called “Teaching to the Test.”

More:

Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

How Standardized Testing Damages Education

Why College Students Drop Out

Who Ordered Life’s Changes, Anyway?

Tags

"life lessons", changes, existence, Japan, observations, people, resilience, respect

Life … In my last post, I related a dream, a nightmare I had. It is fairly obvious that I went to bed feeling rather overwhelmed with the “issues of life.” I need not furnish details, as I’m certain every adult experiences some of the same from time to time. What I have noticed, however, is the reluctance for most of us to admit our frailty. Instead, we “buckle down,” we “persevere,” and we “put our nose to the grindstone.”
I’m not sure that is the best course of action at these times.

The natural world has its Seasons: four of them! There is a time of new beginnings – SPRING. There is the passion (heat) of life – SUMMER. There is the beauty of truth and reality – AUTUMN. Lastly, there is death – WINTER. Is Summer better than Winter? No, just different!
There is great wisdom in Seasons. First, without the natural progression, the natural changes of life, things would become pretty boring. But beyond that, the very definition of life is change. If there is no change, no growth, there is no life.

Most of us learn at an early age that change is not desirable. We’re out playing on a sweet, spring evening when our parent calls us in to bathe. We resist the proposed change, because we’re having fun. We learn our family must pick up and move from Albuquerque to Pittsburgh. We resist because we’re comfortable in Albuquerque. We resist change because we’re comfortable where we are, and we’re not certain where we’re going. Some of us resist more than others. Most likely, we all resist in our own way.

“Resistance is futile!” a strange, green alien proclaims to confused and fearful earthlings. Exactly! Change comes whether we like it or not. Today is different than yesterday. Tomorrow will be different again (or still?) There are changes that need to be fought … illnesses, abusive situations, involuntary limitations of freedom, just to name a few. There are changes that need to be embraced, aging, for example. I’m not telling everyone to go out and buy their rocker just yet, but there are things that I could do when I was 25 that, let’s say, are not gracefully done now.

I went into the US Army upon graduation from college in Massachusetts. My first assignment was in Maryland. I thoroughly enjoyed it! But then I got orders to Alaska. ALASKA? I fought those orders for months. All I knew of Alaska was igloos and Eskimos, and I wanted no part of it. I had generals call the Pentagon on my behalf. I wrote letters. I did everything I could think of, everything suggested by those over and around me to change those orders. All options failed. While packing my belongings the thought occurred to me, “Why choose to be miserable? I cannot get out of going, so I might as well decide to enjoy it.” I did! Alaska is one of the highlighted chapters in my life’s novel for both content and setting.

Change is uncertain, and therefore, fearful. If we can move forward with some basic understandings, change can be easier to live with. It is important to understand that life is a progression. Nature doesn’t jump from Spring back to Winter. It always moves into Summer. There is generally an order to life. Do what can be done to fight, to resist, then make the required changes and embrace the new place of life.

The writing of this draft began in the wake of unbelievable devastation in Japan. No human could have foreseen the extent of damage from the series of natural disasters there. A record earthquake, followed by a quick hitting tsunami strong enough to disrupt and corrupt the nation’s nuclear facilities was not in the scope of expectation. Thousands of people are lost, and yet in the midst of the rubble and catastrophe, a beautiful life lesson has emerged. The people of Japan, the Survivors, continue to demonstrate the root framework of their culture – Respect. Instead of the animalistic behavior seen in previous crises around the world, the people of Japan are not looting, not pushing through lines to get supplies, and not taking from one another. Rather they have corporately chosen to respect one another and value one another’s life as much as their own. They have embraced the changes, as horrific as they are, and they have decided to survive and go on. It is a beautiful thing to see.

Change is an integral part of human existence. It can be overwhelming at times. It can be unpleasant. It can be downright ugly, but the single most remarkable thing about the human psyche is its resilience.

PARENTS: Preschool or Childcare Checklist

Tags

curiosity, daycare, education, exploration, preschool, toddlers, training

I worked in privately owned child care facilities with 2 yr olds, specifically, for several years.  Every daycare facility has its own personality, priorities and methods.  Few agree on even the basics, which is important if you are the parent of a child that requires either daycare or nanny care.  Here is a checklist parents can work through before selecting a daycare facility or a new nanny.

• Affection: Some facilities/educators limit the amount of age-appropriate physical affection teachers and assistants show the children while others give affection freely.  Determine how important it is to you, as parents, to know your child’s teachers freely care for your child as demonstrated by age-appropriate physical affection.
• Teaching method: There is a vast spectrum of educational styles, particularly in early education facilities like daycares.  Many experts believe training young children in factual information gives them an advantage when they finally get to school.  There are also experts, however, who believe that too much structured teaching actually works against the natural explorative curiosity of young children and thereby discourages a child’s natural creativity and development.
• Staff qualifications: As strange as it seems, all experts agree that the “formative years” between 1 – 5, (or even 1 – 3, some say) are most vital in a child’s growth and development, and yet most early educators have little, if any, education beyond high school.  Most daycare staffs members receive minimum wage, or only slightly higher.  I mention this because, even at this, there are some devoted educators with advanced degrees willing to sacrifice the money for the reward of teaching young children well.  These are rarely well documented, but they are out there both in the daycare setting and as potential private nannies.  States mandate some criminal background checks in search of child abuse histories, but if this seems important to you, you may ask about the educational certifications of your child’s teachers.
• State Laws: If you are a parent looking for a daycare facility, know that when parents are not on the premises, liberties are often taken to save money.  I’m sure there are exceptions, but after all, while childcare has become big business, there is generally not a high profit margin.  The biggest shortcut I have seen is in ratio-staffing.  Again, each state dictates the safety standards for class size (total number of students per classroom) and ratio (number of students per adult) depending on age group.  There are also space requirements per child, which is harder to fudge.

These are subjects for discussion as parents consider childcare options.  Please, consider the above issues carefully before making a commitment with your child.  Remember, no one can do a better job of encouraging healthy growth and development in your child than YOU. No one!