“See,” she said. “We are brown. No one is black or white.”

My son thinks people are pink and purple and black is the color of hair, eyes and the interior of our car.

These are conversations we have over dinner. In my attempts to explain the concept of race to a 6 and 4 year old, I am reminded that race is meaningless. It’s really an invented construct based on a hierarchy of power and privilege that impacts everything from how we live to how we see ourselves in the mirror.

I hope to teach my children to see the beauty in all people in all shades, to see the power of their hair, which grows in the sun, the richness of their cocoa skin, and to know that they can do whatever they want to be.

The idea is that they are anti-racist, a concept I only recently learned from Dr. Ibram X Kendi’s many best-selling books, including “How to Be an Anti-Racist”, “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You” and “Antiracist Baby,” which was the subject of a bizarre attack by Sen. Ted Cruz during Katanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings earlier this year. The attention, ironically, caused book sales to skyrocket.

Kendi is a leading anti-racism researcher and founding director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University. In 2020, he was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine and received the MacArthur Genius Grant 2021. He has a new book, “Goodnight Racism”, a version of the classic children’s book by Margaret Wise Brown, “Goodnight Moon”.

Raising anti-racist children means teaching them to understand that even if our skin color is different, we are all human and that we should all be equal, even if we are not all treated the same.

“I think all parents of any child should raise their children to be anti-racist,” Kendi said. “We must protect our children of color from thinking that people of color in general have less because they are less, just as parents of white children must protect them from the idea that white people have more because they are less. are more. So any idea that suggests a racial group is better or worse is definitely not an anti-racist idea.”

Conversations about race are often difficult because there is so much fear and hate to offend. Feelings are hurt when race is the issue.

As hard as it is to engage adults on the breed, Kendi said, there’s a common assumption that it’s going to be even harder with kids, when it’s actually a lot easier. The children will give it to you directly. They don’t have the baggage that adults have.

“There’s also this perception, especially among white parents, that ‘I don’t want to say the wrong thing or introduce race to my child. “So there’s this belief that if you talk to them, you’re going to make them racist, instead of protecting them from racism. And then there’s also the shame,” he said.

“I suspect that when a white child says something like, ‘Black people are bad’, his parents are ashamed. When a parent of a Latinx child hears his child say, ‘I want to have blue eyes’, as if to n anything else, we want to get away from shame, instead of understanding that it doesn’t mean we’ve failed as parents. It means we live in a dangerously racist society from which we must protect our children. .

Her thoughts on raising children to be anti-racist were amplified when her 6-year-old daughter, Imani, was born. It became even more crucial after the murder of George Floyd, when so many young people were demonstrating against injustice.

“We saw high school kids demanding to be told the truth and expressing how upset they were with the way they were raised,” Kendi said. “They didn’t want this kind of parenting form of colorblind avoidance denial to continue. Then many parents and teachers saw this and started responding to it, looking for support or resources to guide them as they they were guiding their students and their children. I noticed that I kind of thought about that personally.”

Her daughter, like mine, encouraged a broader dialogue about race at home. It tells the story of her attending daycare, where she played only with a blue-eyed, blonde-haired doll for several days, and on the fourth day she had a fit because she didn’t want to leave. the doll when it was time to go home. But there were no dolls at daycare that looked like her.

“She had no other choice. It taught us the importance of making sure her toy box, wherever she goes, her surroundings, wherever she goes, that she sees the human,” he said.

Kendi continues to face criticism for her work that teaches us about our humanity.

Cruz’s attack on his children’s book “Antiracist Baby” is a prime example. There’s nothing in the book that’s controversial – racism is taught, we’re all human, and bad politics is the problem, not the people. Still, it was a tough time for Kendi.

“Watching someone weaponize and twist my book to try to hurt the prospects of someone who was extremely qualified was hard to watch,” Kendi said. “But to know that people understood that and saw that he was trying to demonize and weaponize a book that actually tries to work with children and certainly parents to think differently and appreciate racial equality is something. which I enjoyed. Unfortunately what he did is symbolic of how people have attacked my work. It has been consistent and constant distortion and misrepresentation and then an attack on distortion and misrepresentation .

We need to arm children with ideas to make the world a better place.

“I think we are going to make mistakes and our children are going to be hurt by racism, I don’t know if there is a way to completely protect them. Let me say, when our children actually say what they think about racing and feel comfortable enough to do it, that’s actually a good thing.”

My son, who sees people in shades of pink and purple, said it perfectly: “I think people should be all colors, like the rainbow.

joy.sewing@chron.com

A Scottish teacher who hit a woman with a belt and poured cleaning fluids on her has been given the green light to return to class.

Charles Tighe, who taught at Beckford Primary School in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, was convicted in 2019 of assaulting three separate women between 2007 and 2018.

On several occasions between January 2007 and December 2014, the 51-year-old assaulted a victim by pushing her against a wall, throwing her to the ground and emptying a laundry basket on her.

He also hit her on the head while she was holding a child, threw her on a bed, and dumped a bucket of cleaning supplies and liquids on her.

The shamed Scottish teacher was also discovered to have hit her with a belt and slapped and shook her repeatedly.

Between January 2014 and December 2014, Mr. Tighe chased another victim, repeatedly shaking her and knocking her to the ground.

In July 2018, he repeatedly texted a woman causing “fear and alarm” a year after he assaulted her and forcibly removed a child from her arms.

Mr Tighe was convicted of the offenses in February 2019 and sentenced to community service for 18 months and issued a non-harassment order for two years.

After a three-day hearing into Mr Tighe’s behaviour, the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) decided last week that he would be allowed to return to teaching.

The regulator issued him a reprimand which will remain on his record for two years and a conditional registration order.

The order means that Mr Tighe will have to inform the GTCS when he gets a new job and inform future employers of his conviction.

The GTCS concluded that Tighe’s ability to teach was impaired, but said he showed genuine remorse for his actions.

In rendering its decision, the GTCS wrote: “The panel considered that a joint conditional admission and reprimand order was sufficient in all the circumstances of the case.

“The panel noted that the teacher had given full thought and taken many steps to remedy.

“The panel considered the teacher’s remorse to be sincere and complete.

“The panel noted that there was no repeat of the behavior once the issues were raised with the proper authorities and the teacher fully complied with the court-ordered sentencing conditions.”

Mr Tighe admitted to all the allegations made against him last month, but said he believed his ability to teach was not impaired.

Speaking last month to the teachers’ panel, he said: ‘I have never been subject to any disciplinary proceedings and have never had any concerns about my fitness to teach.

“I would love nothing more than to go back to primary education.

“On February 5, 2019, I pleaded guilty to four counts.

“I’m not trying to deflect my acceptance that my behavior was wrong.

“I have fully admitted the allegations and confess that I have fallen far short of the standards expected of a teacher.

“I do not admit that my ability to teach is currently impaired.

“I thought a lot about my own actions and took steps to correct my behavior.”

He added: “As I was working [doing community service] it gave me a lot of time to think.

“Talking with other offenders and with my supervisor gave me a lot of time to reflect.

“It gave me a lot of time to think about what I should do; who was teaching.

“It gave me real insight into the damage I caused to [the people involved].

“It cannot be undone, it will be with them and me forever.”

Mr Tighe was suspended from his post at Beckford Primary School in 2017 after allegations emerged.

He was then sacked from the school in 2018.

As Summer is coming, and many teens and kids will be babysitting, running a lemonade stand, or working part-time. When your child begins to earn their own money, it’s important to teach them the skills to make informed financial decisions. Viktoria Jurkovic of the Financial Institutions Division of the Ohio Department of Commerce explains to parents the importance of financial literacy and how to educate your children on these important skills.

Children are constantly watching and listening and they can absorb so much from adults, so it’s important to be open and honest in conversations about money.

“The more you think out loud and have these conversations with your kids, the more they’ll appreciate it,” Jurkovic says. “One of the biggest things I hear from adults is, ‘My parents never talked about money.’ Financial literacy is about understanding where the money comes from, how much you have, and where you’re going to spend it effectively. It’s really the big picture.

“Financial literacy is a comprehensive way to ensure individuals are able to make good financial decisions that will benefit their financial health,” she adds. “It’s a process of understanding the dynamics and value of money, and then being able to make the best decisions based on your personal positioning.”

start early

Children should learn financial literacy skills from around the age of 3, from how to budget and plan for the future, to decision-making and managing more wisely. resources.

“When we start to infiltrate the ways we teach kids at a younger age, they start to appreciate and value money a little bit better,” Jurkovic says. “They are also at an age where they start to model the behavior around them. So when you play store with your preschooler and explain that you have to buy the vegetable, that’s where the value for money is displayed.

Children will naturally learn financial literacy skills through modeled behavior. Children can learn some of these skills at school, but having these conversations at home is invaluable.

For example, she says if you’re planning a birthday party for your child and shopping, talk about the process from what you think. Speak out loud so they can understand your decision-making process and can benefit from hearing the reasoning behind what you do with your money, she says.

Teaching teens to save

For teens and children who will be earning a salary, it’s important to help them be responsible for their income and be open and honest about financial decision-making skills.

“Maybe set up some sort of kid’s savings account,” Jurkovic says. “For teenagers who will be working part-time, explain to them that the check they will take home may be smaller than expected due to taxes.”

Jurkovic says it’s important to be transparent and have open conversations. Start with a simple budget and save for one goal, like a vacation with friends or an expensive gaming system. Children can then begin to set aside some of what they earn for long-term savings, etc.

“It’s important to have that conversation with them, because we don’t want teenagers to get a job, make money, and then splurge as soon as they get it,” Jurkovic says.

Summer courses

While some children may start earning an income this summer, Jurkovic says it’s up to the family to decide if the child should start paying their phone bill, contributing to grocery bills, etc. Having your child pay a bill can help them become more financially responsible.

“Maybe you can ask your kid to pay $20 per check they get and then give it back later,” Jurkovic says. “At the same time, taking the $20 from them every paycheck still teaches them a lesson. Reassure them that they are contributing and helping.

For young children who want to host a lemonade stand, bake sale, or garage sale, help them come up with a plan. Ask them, “If it’s a bake sale, what’s the cost of your ingredients?” “How are you going to get these ingredients?” ‘Why are you going to sell them?’ ‘When you take advantage of it, what are your plans with the money?’ ‘Why do you feel like you want more money right now?’

“If you’re planning on having a yard sale, maybe sell items on eBay or another platform and ask the child to contribute,” Jurkovic says. “Have them take the pictures, have them write the descriptions, have them do the shopping research, etc. This is a good way to make the child feel responsible for facilitating something.

Akshada Sandeep Datir, 16, lives with her family of five in a small room in the Bhaskar Nagar neighborhood of Kalwa.

Despite poor financial conditions, she passed her class 10 with 90%. However, this was not enough for Akshada as she saw many children in her slums spending time in bad company instead of studying. Accompanied by eight of her schoolmates who are also gifted in studies, Akshada, who aspires to become an air hostess, has taken it upon herself to gather these children and impart to them a basic education and moral principles.

These girls were studying together. They completed their studies while helping their families earn a living. They did odd jobs like embroidery, dyeing clothes, tailoring, pottery and making rakhis. The Helping Kids initiative started by watching kids in their neighborhood do nothing and pick up bad habits since most of them haven’t been to school for over two years.

The initiative that started with these girls is now joined by 60 other girls from grades 7 to 12. They help students from kindergarten to grade 5 in the Kalwa slums. They do this for free and take the initiative to find students who need help regaining their interest in education.

An NGO, Pratham, which had a program of summer camps in the slums, started helping the girls after learning about their initiative.

Akshada said, “My parents always motivated me to work hard to pursue my dream of becoming a flight attendant. But, during the confinement, my friends and I have seen many parents work extra to support their families. Since they were unable to pay attention, most of the children got involved with slum elders and formed bad habits. Their language was also not suitable for a child. We completed our studies while helping our family earn a living and we also wanted the children to be responsible as well. »

Her school friend, Tejaswini Bane, who got 84% in class 10, said: “We wanted to teach these kids to improve their studies and catch up on the two-year curriculum they had missed. We didn’t know how to teach them because the students didn’t stay with us. At that time, the NGO Pratham, who heard about the initiative, approached us and sent us study materials like videos or games with which we could teach students. It became easy for us and the students because they liked the teaching methods. We used to start three times a week, but the kids have started to like our classes and now we teach them every day. »

The NGO which works in the central neighborhoods of Kalwa was looking for volunteers to organize summer camps for the children. Pratham’s Thane Program Coordinator Hemlata Sanane said: ‘We met these enthusiastic and dedicated girls in their work teaching children. We decided to look for other such girls and our team helps them with their questions and provides them with teaching aids. Despite our best efforts, all credit goes to those girls who selflessly take classes for neighborhood children. Our main goal was to fill the void of two years of education that these children lost and with the help of the girls, we are achieving this.

The Duchess of Cambridge said ‘addiction, self-harm and suicide’ could be prevented later in life if children learn to manage their emotions properly.

Speaking to a group that included Health Secretary Sajid Javid, she called for mental and physical health education to be given equal weight in tackling ‘today’s toughest social challenges’ .

It comes after a poll found less than a fifth of parents understood the “unique” importance of development in children under six.

Kate, who founded the Royal Foundation Center for Early Childhood last year, made the remarks during a discussion with health experts and politicians at the Royal Institution in Westminster.

As she entered, she passed a marble statue of Michael Faraday, who gave a lecture to Prince Albert at the organization’s headquarters in the 19th century.

Sitting opposite Will Quince, Minister for Children and Families, the Duchess said: “The importance of the early years is clearly underestimated.

“We know that only a minority of people understand the critical importance of the first five years of a child’s life, and that’s what we really need to change.

“If we can teach children to deal with their emotions and feelings from an early age, it will help them avoid having to turn to addiction, self-harm or suicide, even later in life.

“Together, we have a huge opportunity here to help shape the future.”

Earlier this year, Kate traveled to Denmark to learn how its education system promotes the mental wellbeing of children.

As she spoke, Mr Javid nodded and took notes in a book with the motto ‘The first step is to make one’ printed on the front.

There is “certainly more to be done” to improve children’s cognitive development, he admitted.

Mr Javid said: ‘The early years couldn’t be more important in terms of cognitive, emotional and physical development.

“Because of the past two years and the impact of the pandemic…it’s given us even more work to do.”

According to an Ipsos poll, commissioned by the royal foundation, almost half of the public believe that parents are not sufficiently supported to help their children develop.

It also found that parents are much more likely to seek help with their physical rather than mental wellbeing.

In the past year, 35% asked for advice on child nutrition and 34% on vaccines, compared to only 21% and 23% on the social and emotional development of children.

“If we remove the barriers and stigma around mental health, more parents and families will be able to access help and support,” the Duchess said.

“We are going to have to work holistically to build an ecosystem of early childhood support.

“At the end of the day, it’s about the adults they will become and the society they will form.”

When First Tee-Phoenix alum Kaitlynn Criswell was 10, she saw a group of kids playing parachute at the Longbow Golf Club in Mesa. Even though she didn’t know what the organization was, she knew she wanted to join.

“At the time I was there they were parachuting,” Criswell said. “…I was like, ‘Dad, that sounds like fun.’ I literally told him, I was like, ‘I want to get involved in this organization.’ I didn’t know what it was at the time.

What Criswell thought was just a youth event at Longbow turned out to be First Tee-Phoenix – an organization dedicated to teaching children in the community life skills through golf.

While improving her golf game throughout her childhood, Criswell said she also learned essential life skills through the First Tee-Phoenix program.

Three Pennsylvania mothers have filed a lawsuit alleging their first grade children learned about transgender transition in violation of school district policy and state law.

Carmilla Tatel, Stacy Dunn and Gretchen Melton are seeking a court order to stop Jefferson Elementary School in Pennsylvania’s Mount Lebanon School District from stopping gender-related instruction or allowing parents to pull children from classes.

Also named in the lawsuit are the school district’s superintendent, board of trustees, principal and first-grade teacher, Megan Williams.

The mothers claim Ms Williams ignored their parental rights by providing classroom instruction on gender dysphoria and transgender transition.

They are also seeking damages at a federal jury trial.

In the lawsuit, the parents claim Ms Williams ‘began the process of bringing her own personal life and opinions into the classroom, explaining that her child wore an ‘Elsa dress’ for Halloween’.

They claim that being the mother of a transgender child the same age as their children did not give Ms Williams the right ‘to impose those views on a captive audience of six and seven year olds’.

In a statement to Tribulivespokeswoman Kristen James rejected the claims made in the lawsuit.

“The complaint filed against the District, its Board of Directors and its employees contains various allegations that are untrue or based on partial truths that distort events for sensational effect,” Ms James said.

POLOKWANE – “My wish is that every child also reads at home,” said Dorcas Maphalle, who decided to reach out and educate the parents of Gr RR and Gr R children.

Maphalle is a basic stage teacher who wants to teach parents the alphabet in their own language. A few years ago, she acquired posters and signs with words and letters printed on them, which she donates to parents in need.

You may also want to read: Donation of sanitary napkins to people in need

“Teachers often give homework to learners with the idea that parents could help them, but some parents cannot read or write themselves. I give parents a chart and tell them to put it in their bedroom, where it’s the first thing they see each morning. I also teach them how the letters sound and how to recognize them, so they learn to read.

Maphalle believes that you don’t teach and learn in an environment defined as a classroom alone, but everything you do can become a learning experience.

“While you are cooking, you can ask your child to bring two potatoes. Then you have to know how to count to know how many potatoes to bring. As you play and jump with your kids, you can teach them to count their reps. Not only will they learn, but you and your child will get healthy exercise. Shapes and colors can also be taught anytime and anywhere. The shape of your keychain or the color of the walls are examples of things you can point out to them.

Maphalle has decided to donate her time, knowledge and resources because she feels it is time to take education seriously.

She also founded a non-governmental organization called Ithute Segageno. “It means ‘learn your language’. I would like help with registering the organization and need sponsors to get more educational materials. Anyone who can help is welcome. »

I was a teacher, tutor and substitute in New Haven area schools. As a tutor, I taught phonics to children who needed help with reading and spelling. We used a systematic phonetics program, GFB, (Gallistel, Fischer, Blackburn) with excellent results. We taught rules for decoding words. Once the child had mastered a type of word (closed syllable, mute e, etc.), we did speed drills that made reading those words automatic. The children loved the exercises. We taught irregular words separately.

An example of an irregular word is “was”. A consonant-vowel-consonant word has a short vowel. It should rhyme with “a”, but it doesn’t.

In addition to phonics, we need to teach comprehension skills.

Teachers and parents should read aloud to children every day, even when children can read on their own, to increase their skills and encourage a love of reading.

Reading instruction programs go through phases. Teaching phonetics should never go out of fashion.

Jane Platt

Milford

Press release

Mangaluru, June 7: A one-day workshop on Building Healthy Relationships for the entire faculty was led by Fr. Rupesh Ashok Madtha, Designated Editor, Raknno on May 31 in the school auditorium.

‘Leave everything in the Hands of God, so that you can see the Hand of God in everything’ – This was the theme beautifully highlighted in the prayer service led by Father Rupesh Madtha. The session was inaugurated by the lighting of the lamp. From humor to inspiration, Father Rupesh led participants to reflect on meaningful ways to build strong teacher-colleague relationships and positive teacher-student relationships through inspirational messages and thought-provoking reflections, appropriate scripture quotes. He outlined the causes, effects and steps to manage stress, then informed about things to know about the POCSO Act – Fundamentals of Child Protection. Overall the session was invigorating and helped teachers look at life from a whole new perspective.

Liffin Saldanha accompanied the program. Cynthia Renjal introduced the resource person and Vindhya offered the vote of thanks.