Archive for September 2023
Playing the Get-Out-of-Jail Card: Improving Mental Health in Schools
“I’m walking. I’m walking right out of the door. I won’t ever be back.” The gray-haired teacher who was filmed during her meltdown in her classroom shouting those words to her students and doing exactly what she said became an instant nucleus of condensation for the torrent of frustration and stress felt by thousands of…
Read MoreReading Madness
An article this week in Chalkbeat Tennessee told of Kamryn Sanders, an 8-year-old Memphis 3rd grader who walked out her school’s front door on the day her reading scores were to be revealed. She walked a mile, finally asked for help, and the police returned her to school. Kamryn was afraid, with some justification, that…
Read MoreUnderstanding Perfectionism: How To Make It Work For, Not Against, You and Your Kids
Honestly, it’s tough to be a perfectionist writing about perfectionism. Wait, let me rephrase that: a recovering perfectionist writing about perfectionism. See, there it is—correcting myself to get it right. I like accuracy, accountability, and setting high standards for myself. These traits can be motivating and help me accomplish my goals. But sometimes, these same…
Read MoreA message to the aspiring quitter
“I never should have dropped. I can’t believe you let me do that,” I said. This was minute 10 of me walking around the patio in distress, whisper-yelling to my parents on the phone. In hindsight, my dropping out of my computer science class was not their doing. But it always feels a little easier to blame…
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