we must do everything to keep them safe. every single one of them.
near and far
basic needs
food, medicine, shelter.
Oct29
Tag Archives: children
Aug28
kids. every time.
two of my grandchidren in 2017 march with our community
‘Children are the world’s most valuable resource and the best hope for the future.’
-John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States
May10
happy guy muffins.
i felt so lucky
to visit the bakery
with special treats
made by the class
i taught last year
some new children
some i knew from before
including this little one
one of the happiest guys you’ll ever meet
even last year when he was three
at first too shy to speak out loud
but said everything he needed to say
with his huge smile
now here he was
selling his homemade
sprinkle lemon happy guy muffins
each one for a penny
smiling wide and chattering up a storm
still the happiest guy around
on a warm and sunny day.
—
“what sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity.
these are but trifles, to be sure;
but scattered along life’s pathway,
the good they do is inconceivable.”
-joseph addison
Mar12
‘at the end of the day, the goals are simple: safety and security.’ -jodi rell
(a treasured baby blanket – owned since birth)
CUBBIES
as an early childhood educator of many years
i’ve seen many children come to school with all kinds of things
sometimes they wear layers of clothing all buttoned up
shedding layers as the year continues
some bring heavy bags with their entire dinosaur collection
which gets smaller and smaller as time goes by
some bring a whole box of cars
some wear costumes
some bring a picture of someone they love
some carry heavy rocks in their pockets or boots
some bring special tiny things to leave in their personal cubby
all these treasures sit waiting patiently for the children
to come and pick them up
or touch them or share them or cuddle them
as needed
they all have one thing in common
these items are very special to them
they represent
a connection between home and school
helping them to feel safe and secure
they always get smaller, appear less often, or fade away with time
as the child grows confident and claims the classroom as their own
a place they are welcome, are truly a part of, and where they belong.
as the year continues
they love to bring things from school back to their home
artwork, inventions, words, and things found outside in nature
all that have stories to go with them
so excited to share a part of their school day with the ones they love
the connection goes both ways
(favorite cars and strong robot monster)
(very fancy sparkly shoes and water bottle)
(little pencils used to learn how to write with tiny hands and fresh moss from outside)
(a beloved cuddly red panda)
my favorite treasure ever
(that little thing that comes in a carryout pizza box
that looks like a miniature table)
—
‘safety is a basic human need.
people with a sense of security and belonging are stabilized for learning, creating, innovating.
a group of wonderfully cared for, confident individuals will generate great ideas.’
*john sweeney
*John Sweeney is a British investigative journalist and writer who worked for The Observer newspaper, and the BBC’s Panorama and Newsnight series.
Jan31
what wisdom.
A road sign advocating kindness appeared on a street in Hull in July last year – BBC
Kindness has been chosen as Children’s Word of the Year for 2024 after a survey of thousands of young people.
Oxford University Press (OUP) said “artificial intelligence” and “conflict” were also among the most common suggestions.
It follows 2023’s winning phrase “climate change”, and “Queen”, which was the winner in 2022 following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
More than 3,000 children aged six to 14 were asked for their suggestions, with the top three then put to vote by a further 2,000 children.
Andrea Quincey, a director at OUP, said the choice was “encouraging” and reflected children’s increasing awareness of mental health. “We know from previous years that young people are very conscious of the big issues that can divide us as a society and attuned to the important role which language can play in bringing people together.”
“It tells us that empathy and tolerance and the language we use matter, and that kindness is not only a solution to so many problems but is something everyone and anyone can do to make a difference.”
The final vote kindness had been chosen by 61% of children.
—
‘what wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?”
– Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Dec30
the four crows.
we were a formidable team
my two sisters
one friend
and i
an ad-hoc agency
fashioning ourselves
the finest of sleuths
solving crimes
righting wrongs
all around
our neighborhood
it was our job
our destiny
the four crows
walked the streets
the fields
the woods
went in old abandoned houses
from another time
looking for clues
to
crack puzzles
solve problems
imagined
and
created
as we
dreamed up
our cases
reading bits of discarded notes and lists
finding an empty pill bottle
asking a neighbor
where his wife was
as we hadn’t seen her recently
left a note
for a woman
who yelled at her adopted children
telling her she was too mean
we clearly
way overstepped our bounds
as detectives
sometimes
tend to do
all
in the pursuit of justice
in an attempt
to right wrongs
to restore balance
to keep peace
protect people
in a community
that didn’t know
they needed us
or that we were on the case
always looking out for them
in the most secret of ways
plainclothes
and
undercover
as a
murder of four crows
all under the age of 8
—
“the case called for plain, old-fashioned police leg work!”
― donald j. sobol, encyclopedia brown, boy detective
Dec4
shop with a cop II – holiday edition.
for the second time
i’ve had the honor of volunteering
with local law enforcement officers, firefighters, marines,
first responders, heroes of all kinds,
community members
athletes from university sports teams
all there to host children from across the area
from families who are underserved in our surrounding community
the parents receive a stocking filled with gift cards
for gas, food, things for home, other things they want or need
the children stay with us
for an afternoon/evening of fun, food, activities, a santa visit,
and holiday shopping
for loved ones,
for warm outdoor winter wear for themselves,
holiday pajamas, cuddlies,
for things on their dream wish list,
(we find some things to pass on to a parent to give them from santa for holiday gifts)
along with some other things they’ve been hoping for or need
so joyful to see
most children wanted to buy things for those they loved first
we had to steer them back to also choosing some things for themselves
these are children who struggle
yet still understand the joy found in giving to others
j, the little guy who was trusted with myself and a young sherriff’s officer
said his mom’s very favorite thing in the world was mountain dew
he chose this as the first thing to put in our cart
he also bought some toys for his two cats
but just wrote ‘to: cats’ on the tag
so they would both share them
for ‘papa-grandpa’, some chicken noodle soup
j is an only child, raised by a single parent
he’s not had an easy life
yet, he has a gentle spirit
watched the fish in the tanks for a long while
wanted to take them home and let them go
‘because they are prisoners in there’
loves nature, being outside, running,
catching minnows and letting them go,
fishing and letting them go,
and everything at recess
he played hide and seek in the store with us
laughed with no filter
seemed to love every minute where his role
was to just be a child, enjoy all the fun, he certainly deserves it all
even the giant sugar cookie he decorated
with all of the five colors of frosting on it
and every kind of sprinkle.
—-
“the greatness of a community is most accurately measured
by the compassionate actions of its members.’
-coretta scott king
Aug25
totally kid.
totally kid carousel
A Carousel Of Visions;Artist Brings the Fantasies Of Children to Magical Life
Artistic acclaim came early to Milo Mottola. When he was 8, his drawing of menacing tooth film with the slogan “Plaque is mean, so keep teeth clean” was such a hit it won him a $50 savings bond from a dental group and was made into a poster. Nearly 25 years later, Mr. Mottola, an artist who lives in Long Island City, Queens, NY, decided to try to find a way to give other children that same dizzy excitement and spark of confidence, without all those dentists.
What could be better, he thought, than asking children to draw the animals they would like to ride on a carousel — and then to make that carousel, carving the animals exactly as the children drew them? I wanted it to be as magical as the children who ride it,” said Mr. Mottola, who, in an echo of his own past, gave each child whose animal was chosen a $50 savings bond, and a lifetime of free rides on the carousel.
Above each animal, Mr. Mottola displayed the child’s original drawing, and on the floor beneath each animal, he carved the child’s signature. “I wanted the winners to have something that will last forever, where they can someday take their husbands and wives and say ‘I did this.’ “
The carousel is on permanent display in Riverbank State Park, the 28-acre park built three years ago atop a sewage treatment plant between West 137th and West 145th Streets in Harlem.
“improvisation, writing, painting, invention—all creative acts—are forms of play,
the starting place of creativity in the human growth cycle, one of the great primal life functions.”
— stephen nachmanovitch, Free Play
—
Source Credits: Pam Belluck, Milo Mottola, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Percent for Art Program
Material: steel (alloy), wood, fiberglass
Address:679 Riverside Dr, New York, 10031, USA
Aug8
neither rain, nor sleet, nor children….
ask anyone in my family
they’ll tell you
i’m a huge fan of going to the post office
i love mailing hand-written letters
buying cool stamps
sending packages to my special people
filled with things i just know they’d love
even though they don’t know it yet.
all this being said
the post office does have
its own huge set of negatives and challenges
as i’ve written about a number of times
and even a bit of a dark past from the early days.
People Used to Mail Their Children Via the Postal Service
(can’t say if i may have wondered if this was an option
during those sleep-deprived times with 3 small children, back in the day,
just kidding for my now-grown and non-mailed children
who i love dearly and are likely to read this.)
When the United States Postal Service launched their parcel service in 1913, Americans immediately began testing its boundaries. People started mailing coffins, eggs, and even dogs, and a few decided to mail the ultimate precious cargo: human children.
The first known case of baby-shipping happened that same year, when an Ohio couple mailed their 10-pound infant to his grandmother a mile away, which cost them about 15 cents. Some kids traveled farther, like 6-year-old Edna Neff, who was mailed 720 miles from Pensacola, Florida, to her father’s home in Christiansburg, Virginia.
There was only a brief window for mailing kids, though; the postmaster general instituted a strict no-humans rule in 1914. At least two more children managed to slip through: Charlotte May Pierstorff was mailed via rail to her grandparents’ house with the appropriate postage stuck to her coat in 1914, but a postal worker relative escorted her (her story was later turned into a children’s book called ‘Mailing May’). The last recorded case was in 1915, when 3-year-old Maud Smith’s grandparents mailed her 40 miles across Kentucky to visit her sick mother. In 1920, the Postal Service declined two applications to mail children who had been listed as “harmless live animals,” a classification for creatures that don’t require food or water on their journey.
—
Many of us have heard the postal carriers’ motto in one form or another. “Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep the postmen from their appointed rounds.”
The original saying was spoken about 2500 years ago by the Greek historian, Herodotus. He actually said “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” This was said during the war between the Greeks and Persians about 500 B.C. in reference to the Persian mounted postal couriers whom he observed and held in high esteem.
From that time on the saying has been associated with U.S. postal carriers.
—
source credit: interesting facts
Aug5
to look forward and not back, to look out and not in, and to lend a hand. -edward e. hale
this past weekend i took part in a ‘shop with a cop’ event
sponsored by
mott children’s hospital,
the county sheriff department, local police departments, state troopers,
u.s. marines, and the university of michigan police department
everyone volunteered their time
to take underserved children and their families
back to school shopping at a local meijer store.
it was beautifully organized
we all met in the morning at the stadium
set up food, games, drinks, tables
met our law enforcement partners for the day
families arrived
we shared a meal with our family and created our shopping team
loaded up on university busses
accompanied by motorcycle cops with lights flashing
the kids were really excited.
when we arrived
we descended upon the store
masses of uniformed officers and children
must have caused some shoppers to wonder
but everyone got right to work
helping the kids find the things on their lists
along with lots of extras
at checkout everything was covered
headed back to the stadium
for kona ice, more food, build-a-bear projects, face-painting
checking out the team locker room and playing on the field
by the end of the day
we had shared our stories with each other
learned so much
everyone had bonded
no matter their age, rank, or status.
people were tired and smiling
as they walked out the door
ready for school
headed for home
happy to know
people in the community support them
as a volunteer
this day
was also a gift to me from my community.
“there isn’t anyone you couldn’t love once you’ve heard their story.”
-mary lou kownacki
I didn't have my glasses on.... 