During the month of January this year, I am going to share with you some of my favorite books and why I love them. I don't have a fully formed list yet, but most likely, these books are going to be children's books. Why? Because I love a well-formed tale with a lesson, and nothing beats a beautifully illustrated book. When I was teaching, I regularly used children's books to illustrate a point or highlight a particular concept I wanted to really stick. So, story time. The

Well, here it is, ‘tis the season. Ho! Ho! Ho! Well, according to certain larger-than-necessary shopping establishments in the US, we should have been decking the halls since 1 November, but for those of us on a more seasonal calendar, Thanksgiving typically kicks off the holiday festivities. We usually use the long weekend to put up our tree, and hang the various accoutrements of the season. I love this time of year: we start thinking about various ways to share the hol

Gimme gimme gimme ‘tis the season. Well, according to certain larger-than-necessary shopping establishments in the US, it’s been the season since 1 November, but for those of us on a more seasonal calendar, Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday festivities. It would be nice, though, to put the ‘joy’ back into the holiday season, rather than it be all about getting stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7T0IK99ELs I think maybe Santa Baby has more things on his mind rather th

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” -Maya Angelou I often write about kindness, and modeling for our kids, and what we can do to help our kids reach out more, and focus on 'we' rather than 'me'. I often write about empathy and sympathizing with others and learning to be compassionate. I often write about being a good citizen and doing things for the betterment of others regard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7T0IK99ELs I think maybe Santa Baby has more things on his mind rather than just filling up each house with a heap of toys. Or at least he should. When did Christmas We can’t let commercialism eat Christmas. Showing the next generation what’s really important – family, time with your loved ones, helping those who are in need, health and happiness – means making more of an effort than whipping out the ol’ plastic, but effort means something