Category Archives: children

with passion.

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going all in.
“do it with passion or not at all.”
– Rosa Nouchette Carey- British writer 

ideas.

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when you want to change the color of your shoes

but don’t have a job

to make the money to buy them

and no one will hire you

just because you are a 4-year-old

even though you have a lot of energy

you find your own way to get those turquoise shoes.

“a busy mind is full of thoughts, a blissful mind is full of ideas.” 

– amit kalantri, author

in bud.

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flower and child

 both in bud

soon to blossom. 

 

“so much is in bud.”

-denise levertov

beautiful story.

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sometimes we all need a little break

time and space to sit and ponder. 

 

“silence is a beautiful story.”

-kulpreet yadav

upside down.

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this is my favorite hide and seek spot of the season.

well done. 

 

 

“when you’re playing upside down, it takes twice the strength.”

-tommy lee

dinos in snow.

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today we took the dinos

out of their safety zone and into the snow

they went

in the playhouse

down the slide

in the hollow log

in the sandbox

climbed up

jumped down

made footprints and snow angels

roamed on dinosaur island

played tag

went to a party

 loved the snow

they all had a such a good time and were worn out.

“my son’s always showing me pictures of dinosaurs and asking me what their names are.

i don’t know, so i make stuff up:

that, son is a thesaurus.”

-craig ferguson

common ground.

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my class has recently become enamored with a giant box of dinos

they play with them every day

create wildly imaginative scenarios

ask questions about real dinos

reassure me that the ones in our room are not real

one day when playing, a child asked

“would they wear masks if they were alive now?”

another jumped up to say

“never, ever, ever, ever, try to put a mask on a t-rex!!!!”

and an instant class book was born

what a brilliant title

others jumped in to offer reasons why you shouldn’t try to mask one

brainstorming was in full swing

some became illustrators

 it is a fascinating and funny work in progress.

dinos may have left the earth forever, but books will never die.

“stories are the common ground that allow people to connect, despite all our defenses and all our differences.”

-kate forsyth

candyland.

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the heat is on and a candyland championship game is in play

my absolute favorite game and the competition is tough 

there is no crying in candyland. 

 

“life is like candyland, there are many paths to take,

sometimes you run into lord licorice, but the end will always take you to the candy castle.”

-jack barakat

 

 

 

ack Barakat

hostage.

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ted’s

where i spent many hours of my childhood

famous to many as a woodward drive-in restaurant and hot rod cruising spot back in the day

famous to me as the scene of many family dinners and celebration spot

and that one suumer day

when my older sisters and i walked up to ted’s

all on our own

the hostess seated us in a booth

feeling very grown up

 pooling all of our change

looking at the menus

ordering 2 plates of french fries and lots of ketchup to share

when we finished, so proud of ourselves

the waitress dropped off our bill

my older sisters knew math

 realizing that we didn’t have enough money to pay the bill

my sisters somehow negotiated with the waitress

 to leave me in the booth while they ran home to get more money

 i sat in the booth quietly waiting for their return

feeling what it meant to be a hostage

without ever having heard the word in my young life

i’d still like to know

how they got the waitress to agree to this

how they talked my mom into letting us go up there alone in the first place

perhaps we snuck up there

and what they told my mom when they returned home without me to get more money?

i’ll ask my sister the next time we meet.

not at ted’s.

“every happiness is a hostage to fortune.”

-arthur helps

crumb.

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i will never forget

it was a friday

 show and tell time

sitting on the floor

they took turns going around our circle

each child sharing their special thing

other children kindly looking at it

showing appreciation for what the others shared

then we came to n

who clearly had forgotten to bring something

yet said “i have something too”

he proudly walked around the circle

both hands together

gently cradling a single crumb

that he had picked up off our floor

showing each child

talking about his crumb

as the others

were all so kind

smiling at his crumb

complimenting him on his crumb

accepting the crumb as his special thing

without judging his crumb

my favorite show and tell special thing of all time.

“the wise learn from the experience of others, and the creative know how to make a crumb of experience go a long way.”

-eric hoffer