In the wake of the Presidential election, the Super Moon upon us and Thanksgiving ahead, I have a few resources for you to consider when in discourse with your child, as there are many teachable moments in the midst of it all:
Michelle Maltais, writes in an article for the Los Angeles Times on November 9th:
In my own home, my husband and I are on opposite sides of the aisle politically. So the most important thing to convey is not our own partisan fervor, but respect for our system, messy as it may be. So we will tell our preschooler and kindergartner five things:
The Super Moon:
I found the attached link that shares interesting information about the Super Moon, hopefully encouraging further inquiry for you and your child:
www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/super-full-moon.html
Thanksgiving:
This coming Friday we will have our school wide Thanksgiving Celebration. Our Soup Dads will prepare a lovely meal for us the evening before. After the children feast on what Soup Dads prepare, we will gather in the Commons and marvel over the dry goods collected by our community for Mercer Street Friends families and then our students will share inspirational words, song, and dance in our annual schoolwide Thanksgiving Celebration. It is one of my favorite traditions at PJS and I hope you will join us. Please find the attached article related to meaningful conversation possibilities during your own family's Thanksgiving celebration during the Break.
Please feel free to post any thought, feelings, and ideas on the comments section of this post.
Michelle Maltais, writes in an article for the Los Angeles Times on November 9th:
In my own home, my husband and I are on opposite sides of the aisle politically. So the most important thing to convey is not our own partisan fervor, but respect for our system, messy as it may be. So we will tell our preschooler and kindergartner five things:
- We are Americans. And what that means is we believe in democracy. And sometimes, democracy is difficult. That leads to the next point.
- Everyone gets a voice, but that doesn’t mean our vote will always prevail.Even if our pick for president didn’t win, we honor the results of the election. Because that is how we transfer power – peacefully. No matter who is sitting in the Oval Office, we must respect the office of the presidency.
- Speak up. We speak truth to power and fight for those who need our support.
- We respect one another. We may come from different places, believe different things – maybe even passionately – but we treat one another with the same respect we expect to be treated with. Even when most of the people we know say one thing, we should remember that half of the country feels the other way. And we must respect our fellow Americans.
- We don’t walk away. Politicians concede races. But as citizens, we do not concede our legal rights and sacred responsibility to remain engaged in who governs and how they govern our country. Sure, people have talked about moving to Canada and New Zealand. But we don’t flee when it gets hard. We steady ourselves, stand together and work to make things better for all of us.
The Super Moon:
I found the attached link that shares interesting information about the Super Moon, hopefully encouraging further inquiry for you and your child:
www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/super-full-moon.html
Thanksgiving:
This coming Friday we will have our school wide Thanksgiving Celebration. Our Soup Dads will prepare a lovely meal for us the evening before. After the children feast on what Soup Dads prepare, we will gather in the Commons and marvel over the dry goods collected by our community for Mercer Street Friends families and then our students will share inspirational words, song, and dance in our annual schoolwide Thanksgiving Celebration. It is one of my favorite traditions at PJS and I hope you will join us. Please find the attached article related to meaningful conversation possibilities during your own family's Thanksgiving celebration during the Break.
Please feel free to post any thought, feelings, and ideas on the comments section of this post.
conversation_starters_for_beyond_the_thanksgiving_table_-_the_new_york_times.pdf |