Rare, Valuable, and Lost

Last week a tree was cut down in Seattle and is probably now sitting in someone’s living room, wrapped in lights, festooned with glittering ornaments, and draped in tinsel. This would not be much of a story, especially in December, except for the fact that...

Keeping Kids Focused

Image via Wikipedia  A scenario with which you are probably familiar: You are giving directions for an upcoming project, or explaining a complex math concept, or leading a discussion about the story the class just read in the reading book. Dozens of...

Dinner Table Differentiation

My youngest son has some very specific food preferences—think “Mikey” from the old Life cereal commercials. Meaning that most of the time, when we sit down at the dinner table, the first words out of his mouth are, “I don’t like that.” My wife and I have slightly...

Managing Perfectionists

According to Tom Greenspon, a family therapist and expert on perfectionism, teachers and parents need to understand four key things about perfectionism: Perfectionism is emotional. It can be a vicious cycle for the perfectionist: making a mistake causes...