The Power of Affirmations
One of the benefits of COVID has been helping us experience compassion and concern for others in our school community. Never in modern...
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Time Well Spent
What’s the opposite of wasting time? We often talk about time in the same terms as money, referring to moments like finishing emails as...
Choosing the Right Books
With next week’s Book Fair, it’s helpful to explore ways to select meaningful books for children. We can’t force children to like...
The Importance of Books
I’m always touched by parents’ devotion to reading to their children every day, no matter how busy their schedules or how tired they are....
Words for Young Ears
Some conversations between two adults are wonderful for children to overhear. Hearing a parent or teacher talk about their...
Casting a Vote for New Learning
Let’s take a vote! One of the fun ways to help children feel empowered to express their opinions is asking them to vote. At home family...
Making Friends with Feelings
In his sojourns greeting children on the kindergarten and elementary play yards, elementary school Co-Principal Vince d’Assis sometimes...
Books as Windows, Mirrors
As we celebrate Chinese New Year at school this week, with preschool classes creating dragons and parading through all the halls, I am...
Communicating and Learning Through Art
Want to help your child handle difficult experiences and emotions? Offer art materials and a time to use them consistently. Even at a...
Children and Gender Identity
“This is my purse,” my grandson said proudly when he was two, indicating a small cloth bag he was carrying with the strap draped over his...
Make New Year’s Resolutions A Family Collaboration
Last week my twenty-two-year-old grandson and Meher School alumni, Malakai, helped me achieve a long-sought New Year’s resolution for the...
Making Holidays More Rewarding
At this time of year, children often seem like they are swimming in a sea of excitement and anticipation. Just thinking about future...
Productive Arguments
At the school coffee last Thursday morning, a mom shared her frustrations about her children fighting. Few sounds irritate parents more...
The Gift of Sharing
On a sunny Saturday in November, four-year-olds chose to stop playing and opted for the joy of handing baby shower gifts to their Room 2...
Rituals to Reduce Anxiety
People often wonder how to help a child who gets nervous about going the doctor, or even anxious about going to school. Phrases like...
Write Down Those Feelings
Want a trick to help children clarify, then let go of their upset feelings? Offer to write their emotions down. When a four-year-old was...
The Need for Patience
“Why do I have to learn to read?” a six-year-old asks her dad. “You can read to me,” she explained patiently. Her father asks what she...
Halloween Opportunities
In the weeks approaching Halloween, we have the chance to see what value this celebration holds for children and note some of the risks....
Pause and Refresh
“In an age of constant movement, nothing is as urgent as sitting still.” Pico Iyer A second grader running relentlessly on the grassy...
Boundaries: A Tricky Balance
Can you remember a childhood experience of being forced to do something or stop doing something, and the adults involved didn’t...
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