Eve Sullivan's blog

Once I recovered from my disappointment at reading the title, wishing I had used it first . . . smile . . . I very much enjoyed reading this new book and recommend it wholeheartedly.
 
The take-away I find most compelling is that no one country's parenting practices are perfect. There is something to admire and emulate in each culture. Some traditions are good, some not so good. Some new practices are beneficial, some detrimental, to children's healthy development.
 
Gross-Loh reports that a fair number of Korean families bring their pre-teen and teenage children to the US to attend American schools in order to acquire some of the free spirit and creativity we encourage in our kids. Looking the other way across the Pacific, I would say that American parents could and should, to our own and our children's benefit, adopt Asian families' expectations regarding showing respect to elders and taking regular, consistent responsibility for their own self care and for household duties. Simply, manners matter and chores are a good idea!

Oprah Winfrey, in her address to Harvard University graduates, as the Boston Globe reported a couple of weeks ago, called for each of them to develop their moral-emotional GPS. An excellent metaphor!
 
I like the phrase 'global positioning system' because it references the whole world. We do after all live together on this one earth.
 
The 'moral-emotional' element I like even more, as it references parents' two essential spheres of influence. Of course since our children copy what we do -- more often than they follow our advice on what to do -- we have to demonstrate by how we live our own lives the moral and emotional teaching that we want our children to acquire.
 
I believe that we can more effectively help each other do this, when we have the tools of parent peer support. 

My sister wrote to me yesterday, mentioning a recent talk in Yellow Springs, Ohio, our hometown, by Lowell Monke. A quick search took me to Monke's article in a 2007 issue of Orion, an environmental magazine. I'll give you the link in a minute, but first:
 
Monke describes forest kindergartens as a way to reconnect young people with nature. He writes that while "few full-blown forest kindergartens have been created in the U.S.... a number of schools have established forest weeks.... And, of course, where there are no forests, prairie weeks, pond months or desert days can serve as well."
 
Monke urges not only engagement with the natural world but intergenerational engagement as well. Schools can, he writes, "help balance our hard-charging, future-obsessed culture with an environment that fosters compassion, reverence and a sense of obligation toward those who have come before."
 

Thanks to the organizers of this second annual conference of SAM - the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Alliance for Massachusetts - I have been involved in the planning process. And if the preparatory meetings are any indication, the conference will be an important step forward in advancing Massachusetts educators' and parents' understanding of our key roles in creating and maintaining a healthy school culture.
 
Pogo's perspective... 'we have met the enemy and he is us' ...is one way to see the problem of violence in communities, but I am confident that this conference will focus on empowerment, not blame.
 
The way parents interact with each other and the way school staff interact with parents significantly affect how children interact with each other. It's important to note that the conference theme 'Beyond the Lock-Down' was announced before the April 15's tragic bombings at the Marathon in Boston and the following Friday's order to 'shelter in place' that essentially locked down Greater Boston.
 
Background on the organization is available at http://www.sel4mass.org .
 

This is all quite strange. The Boston Marathon bombings, four days ago, and now the city where I live, Cambridge, Mass. - - revealed as home to the perpetrators, one now dead and the other on the run - - locked down. All I know is that we are all in this together. We have to face the reality of evil in the world and face it with faith and strength. If doing nothing is physically exhausting in this situation, and I am very tired, I cannot imagine how draining it must be for the law enforcement officers who are searching for the remaining suspect. My heart goes out to the injured and to the families of those injured and killed in this madness and to the police officers especially. I am so thankful that there are men and women willing to confront such challenges personally for all our sakes. 
 
A lot has been made available in the media about how important it is to protect the children from the barrage of radio and television news. As parents and grandparents we need to take care of ourselves, and each other, and to the extent possible keep the news from causing the little ones anxiety. Not an easy task when shock, fear and sadness are in all of us.

If you agree that parenting education should be on the agenda in discussions of education, health care and workforce development, please read and sign our petition bit.ly/XGkgUf .
 
The February 25 USA Today published six letters responding to President Obama's proposal for universal pre-school. This one, from me, the last and longest, had its own headline, "Focus more on educating mom and dad" . . . yeah!
 
     Commentary writer Kay Hymnowitz is right in one respect: Universal preschool won't fix the academic and social woes young people are experiencing. She is wrong, however, about the nature of preschool: It's not "a way of gently introducing children to the discipline and structure of formal education." She puts the academic cart before the social-emotional horse ("Universal pre-K not the solution," Opinion, Tuesday).
 

This has possibilities!
 
A message from the United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service mentions U.N. efforts to set development priorities for the year 2015 and beyond.
 
You can make your voice heard on the issues here: http://www.myworld2015.org .
 
My choices were:
     phone and internet access
     equality between men and women
     a good education
     affordable and nutritious food
     access to clean water and sanitation
     action taken onclimate change
 
The survey ends with an opportunity to add your own issue. Of course I wrote about our petition for universal parenting education http://bit.ly/XGkfUf because...
 

This message from half way around the world came in response to our recent call for universal parenting education and makes me so happy!
 
"I read your article and I find it important.... I am a single parent of three... and find it difficult to cope.... I need to join this forum. I believe that when we start telling our stories as parents we may find solutions. I want to bring this forum to Soweto."
 
Imagine what will happen when more and more parents speak up in this way and ask for the support they need from each other, first of all, and from program providers in libraries, schools, clinics and workplaces!
 
Please sign the Parenting Education for All petition http://bit.ly/XGkgUf and help us move this issue to the top of the policy agenda in all three sectors of society: public, for-profit and non-profit.
 
 

The most important responsibility any of us will ever have, raising children, and we receive next to no training? What's wrong with this picture? Part of the problem is the unfortunate stigma that keeps people who need help, even people who genuinely want help, from getting the advice and support they need. Let's make a change. Let's say it loud and clear:
 
All parents should have access to parenting resources. The call from the International Federation for Parenting Education - known by the initials of its name in French: FIEP - will be a step in this direction. Please sign now! The link, right here on this site, is: http://bit.ly/XGkgUf !

A touching interview with a parent at Sandy Hook, the father of triplets, 8 years old, reported by John Christoffersen and Pat Eaton-Robb for the Associated Press, ran today in the Boston Globe,. Asked about the re-opening of classes, the father admitted 'I'm nervous about it' adding, "It's going to be a long road back [and] back to what is the biggest question."
 
So much news spotlights incidents of violence that it is difficult to remember that hundreds of thousands of children make their way to and from school and their parents get to work and home again without incident. Perhaps the new normal for the Newtown father and others in his community - for all of us, in fact - will include a greater appreciation of the simple joys of an uneventful life. I hope that for them.
 
I also hope that parents of troubled young people will take new energy and commitment from the Newtown tragedy and seek the mental health services their children need. It is very difficult to get help for someone who insists he - or she - does not need it. As parents we must support each other in finding these services.