Kids, Would You Please Start Fighting? - Lead in creativity doesn’t come from agreement, it comes from good-natured quarreling. It’s time we teach our children that.

If you're an educator or fascinated by education, motivation, and practical philosophy then you might like this simple site. Uky is a fantastic resource of quotes by educators and I like to read a series of quotes and contemplate them. Give it a test drive by clicking on this link.

With 48,000 + SlideShare views, I am not the first one to find this 61 page PowerPoint presentation fascinating, thought-provoking and educational. If you are an educator or a parent that wants a useful framework of the questions and concepts you could be struggling with, this is a great place to start. Check out SAMR as a Framework for Moving Towards Education 3.0.

Change Your Mind, Change the World. This website highlights the work of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, founded by Richard Davidson.

Meditation will change your life for the better. It is healthy with the side effects of longer life, healthy heart, happiness, optimism, better relationships, ability to concentrate that is helpful for students, business people, and athletes wishing to be “successful”. I have meditated from age 18, and have followed various methods. I have had many teachers, and some of you might have sat with me in meditation classes at churches or yen yoga. The book Mindfulness in Plain English is the “text book” I hand out in my classes. It is by an incredible teacher, Henepola Gunaratana. Here is a PDF by Master Henepola Gunaratana that in simple language quickly gives you a road map to start a meditation practice. It is good to eventually join a mediation group or find an experienced meditation teacher to help you along. Sometime people will think they are in meditation but really are not. The best analogy I know is one I use in class, which is about the person that milks a cow’s horn. No matter how hard you rub the horn you are not going to get milk. The teacher can help make sure you get benefits from the time you commit to Meditation. There is also some good Mediation guidance at GAIATV. (Full disclosure – I am on the Board of GAIA, and a shareholder of GAIA.) Download this free PDF and get started; give it 20 minutes a day for a few weeks and you will be hooked.

If i say to you DID YOU EAT THAT BISCUIT? If you did, I will beat you!” Do you think you are going to get a “yes” from a 3-year-old? Do you think you are going to get a “yes” from a 30-year-old? How we parents can set our children up to be liars. This article on parenting is a great read for all parents who wish to raise successful, loving, virtuous, happy kids. Kids who know how to deceive are smarter and better adjusted.

Peace and nonviolent conversation gets “lost in translation,” so to speak. This is an essay that really communicates how I feel about nonviolence and peace as a spiritual practice (although as a SPIRITUAL PRACTICE is not how the author explains it). He calls it a principled approach. A highlight of the essay is:
”So, violence can be an effective tool to protect yourself and others against a threat, and it can be used to express outrage about injustice. There is great value in both. Yet violence is also limited in one very important way, and that is that violence can never create relationships. Violence can never get you closer to reconciliation, closer to King’s “beloved community,” the reconciled world with justice for all people. And that is perhaps the most significant difference between a principled nonviolent approach and an approach using violence or nonviolence that is strictly strategic. The goals are different.” Why the Moral Argument for Non-Violence Matters.

What’s the worst kind of praise you can give? Years ago, I wrote an article entitled, “Excellence is not Competitive,” after watching some 4-H girls on our humble, very low budget, 4-H team cry when they lost in horse competitions. The girls had fun, they loved the tournaments, they loved sharing their love of all things horses, so who cares if the girl whose rich parents bought her a beautiful $10,000 horse, a personal [horse] trainer and installed a indoor arena on their estate won over the bow legged glue factory mare, borrowed tack, and rummage sale saddle that the girls on my 4-H team used. It’s about doing your best with what you have, friendship, enjoying your horse and each other.

There’s a wise old saying: “Comparison is the thief of joy.”

If we really want to help our children succeed, grow into emotionally intelligent, wonderfully happy, inner-directed adults we must praise the activity, and identify and reinforce what we want to continue in our children, and not say, “Wow, that is the best crayon art I have ever seen!!!!!” While this article is about how praise hurts business it is a must read for every parent, caregiver, teacher, coach or individual who wants to use science, research, and common sense to guide her or his actions. Bottom line: We must stop comparisons....

Reading aloud, play, and social-emotional development. Introduction to this study: This is a bit dense for the reader, but is important stuff if you find yourself in an argument with someone about the importance of reading, being connected to, and enjoying time with very young children even for 5 minutes a day. It shows that the connecting with children thru story, reading, experiencing a book together helps to develop the child's brain and emotional intelligence, even helping the child build better self control and focus. I have also placed below this posting an article from the NYT that cites this study.

Reading aloud, spending story reading time with a child, having fun, and playing imaginative games helps children developed their minds, emotional intelligence and also [not surprisingly] helps them deal with emotions like anger and sadness. This is a great article that every caring person that has children in their lives should read. Seems that spending time is the key with helping young children and even for 5 minutes a day it appears there is a benefit.