By Dr. John Duffy,
Author of The Available Parent: Radical Optimism for Raising Teens and Tweens
We are on vacation in Florida with another family. Three young teenagers are on board, my 13-year-old included. A number of times over the past week, I have peered over to see each of their beautiful faces lost in a 3 ½ inch screen: a Nintendo DS, iPhone, iPod Touch, or any other thing!
One might be texting friends back home, another might be selecting a new song, while yet another is playing the latest downloaded game. There they were in the car last night, screens lighting their faces. There they were on the couch, in front of the giant TV screen! Even in bed, all faces illuminated, eyes entranced.
So how is a parent to counteract the draw of the tiny, sophisticated, intoxicating hand-held plaything? Read the rest of this entry »
By Howard Zehr and Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz,
Author of “What Will Happen To Me?”
Children need time to adjust to the separation caused by having a parent in prison. But it takes more than time. As we have heard in their voices, children also need to make sense of what has happened to them and to their parent or parents. Because of this, they have many questions.
Some of the questions they ask are straightforward. But sometimes their questions come out indirectly or in their challenging behavior. Incarcerated parents, as well as caregivers of children or other adults in their lives, often have to answer their uncomfortable questions. Read the rest of this entry »
Did you know 160,000 kids miss school every day out of fear of being bullied? The recent cases of young people who have tragically ended their lives because they were so badly bullied are a painful example that there is a serious problem in America today. There is no better time than the present to start changing these statistics…and we can do so through education!
By Jilliane Hoffman,
Author of Pretty Little Things
Last December, New York’s Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that more than 3500 registered sex offenders had been purged from the social networking sites Facebook and MySpace in the state’s first database sweep for sexual predators.
That’s 3500 caught, convicted and registered sex offenders who’d actually used their real names when they signed up for a Facebook or MySpace page. That’s not counting all the deviants that haven’t yet been busted, pled to a lesser charge, had charges dropped, never registered their emails with their probation or parole officers, socially communicate using an alias, or live outside the Empire State. With that in mind, consider this sobering statistic: According to the Center for Sex Offender Management (CSOM), the average sex offender offends for 16 years before he’s finally caught. In that time span, he has committed an average of 318 offenses and violated 110 victims.
Are you aware that forty years ago this month, the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers (NCCPT) and the National Congress of Mothers united to form the National PTA, adapting the same mission they had operated under separately: to improve the education and well being of every child? Today, while many great accomplishments have been made there are still obstacles that we must conquer, both inside and outside of the classroom and across ethnic backgrounds. So at this year’s national convention there will be much to tackle:
The nation’s K-12 public education system is in crisis.
Our students lag behind compared to children in other countries in math and science – which is not a plus for their futures in a global economy and job market.
And our schools also face widespread funding shortages, a childhood obesity epidemic and unbalanced academic standards all across the country.
In this LIVE webcast event from the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, National PTA President Chuck Saylors will be joined by actress, mother and National PTA Advisory Board member Tichina Arnold, National PTA representatives and Ambassadors; Tomeka Hart, Executive director of Memphis Urban League, University of Memphis student representative; as well asBarbara Andrews, director of Education and Interpretation for National Civil Rights Museum. They will be discussing the challenges of educating the 21st century child in today’s classroom, and what needs to be done to close the achievement gap in education.
Want to learn ways in which you can take a more hands on approach in your child’s education? You’re in luck, as during this webcast event you’ll have the opportunity to email your questions and have them potentially answered live during the event.
