People Watching - Christmas Shopping Edition

People are endlessly fascinating. As writers, we become expert people watchers and I had some fun this weekend while doing some Christmas Shopping.

Here are some folks who may or may not show up in a future story!!

• the lady who, on Nov 27!!!, announced to everyone at the checkout that she was officially done her Christmas shopping. Her smug smile carried her through the front doors of the store while the rest of us in line either glared at her or whimpered after her with envy
• the man wearing leather and chains with tattoos covering his hand whose toddler couldn't keep steady on his feet with all the crowds, so he hefted him up to his shoulders and softly sang Jingle Bells with him while they made their way through the store
• the elderly couple pushing a cart through the store and chatting about Every. Last. Item. on the ends of the aisles. They held up traffic in the busy store, but, while I watched, not one person got annoyed. In fact, one teenager overheard part of the conversation and stopped to tell them that, yes, that pair of fuzzy slippers would be perfect for a twelve-year-old
• the two women, busy chatting on their cell phones, who rounded the ends of the aisles and crashed right into each other, both of them dropping their bags and their phones. Just like a cartoon. Luckily, they straightened out the mess without too much trouble
• the elderly woman who shoved me to the side so she could look at the jewelry I was checking out for my mom. When I stumbled (and nearly knocked down the display!), she sent me a glare and told me I should learn to be more careful. I froze a second before I started to laugh. She shoved her nose in the air, sniffed disdainfully, grabbed a necklace, and stomped off
• the mom who pulled out a softball sized lump of some kind of homemade Playdoh while she stood in front of me in a checkout line. Her son's face lit up and he shaped and pulled and twisted quite happily while they waited for their turn to pay. Brilliant!

How about you? Spotted any great characters lately?

Visiting at The Insecure Writer's Support Group

Hi, everyone!

Today I'm honoured to be guest posting over at the IWSG blog. It's such a great group of people, I'm thrilled to be visiting. I hope you'll join me -- and bring your thoughts about kids today and their reading and writing habits!

(For those who were here early, sorry about the mess of this post!! I had someone with a health issue and I totally forgot to come here and check out the post! Sorry :))

Humanity Should

Humanity should = Compassion

Humanity should = Love

Humanity should = Support

Humanity should = Respect

Humanity should = Freedom

Humanity should = Hope

In the midst of yet more sadness and heartbreak in the world,
it's important to look for and celebrate the moments of kindness and hope.

Every classroom in our school boasts a Positive Space poster. We believe in the message.

We have a bathroom for anyone who isn't comfortable using the group bathrooms.

We have books throughout the school representing all kinds of people in all kinds of situations. We read them together. We discuss how we can make the lives of others better.

Posters quoting powerful messages from Maya Angelou, Albert Einstein, MLK Jr., Gandhi, and so many more decorate our classrooms and hallways and spark questions and discussions.

Young voices question the hate they hear about in the news.

Young hearts are devastated to hear how humans sometimes treat each other.

Young people build connections and relationships and friendships with other young people who look/think/act/believe/love/feel/suffer/celebrate/wonder differently.

It's not everything.

But, it's a start.

Resiliency

I'm over at From the Write Angle today talking about resiliency - something we need in this journey to publication. I hope you'll pop over and contribute to the discussion!

Some of the kids I meet don't know how to be resilient. They give up easily, don't know how to stick with a problem if their first attempt at a solution doesn't work. I don't believe humans are born that way. Look at how joyfully a child fails when learning to walk or talk. I think resiliency is a natural trait but sometimes we UN-learn it. There are as many contributing factors to this as there are people. A few I've seen are:

• helicopter parents. Kids need to learn to solve their own problems. If mom or dad is always doing it they're always going to wait for someone to fix things.
• absent parents. Not necessarily physically absent, but emotionally. And yes, this contradicts the first point, but it's true. We all need support and kids are no exception. Parents need to find that middle ground.
• too much passive activity for developing brains. TV, video games, computers, tablets etc. Few of these involve the brain on a truly active level. While there is some decision making in games, it's limited (although I do like the fact that some games require the user to persevere/think creatively and try again and again to achieve the next level!). Keeping that young mind active and mobile is vital. You need practice to become a creative problem solver. 
• too little physical activity. What better way to learn resiliency than to play on a losing team? Or to be the last one picked in your favourite game? Or to be the smallest one at the playground? Learning to lose with grace and to come back and face the next game is incredibly powerful. 

Failure isn't permanent. Often it's not even a negative - it's just a step on the latest learning curve. Learning to fail yet come back excited to try again is vital.

I think as a group, writers are some of the most resilient people I know. So much to learn, so many ways to be rejected, so many steps to take. And for the most part, we do it willingly and with a smile. Gotta love it!

So how did you learn to be resilient?

Tell Me When

The lovely Stina Lindenblatt is hosting the Tell Me When blogfest. Her new release TELL ME WHEN deals with the aftermath of a stalking incident that ended in a kidnapping. Powerful stuff. For each post in the blogfest this week, Stina will be donating to her local women's shelter.

As a teacher I've been involved in a very minor way with stalking incidents. I've seen the effects its had on the kids. Scary stuff.

In several cases, I've had kids in my class who've had to move and hide from an abusive parent. Restraining orders don't always work and these kids live with the worry that they'll be found. They often don't make friends easily for a couple of reasons. First, they know there's the probability that they'll need to move again - and at a moment's notice. Making friends only to have to break off all contact with them later is really, really hard. Second, they don't want to divulge much personal information and it's difficult to develop meaningful relationships when you don't discuss your personal life.

One day I hope we live in a world where kids can grow up in a safe environment where they never have to worry about a parent stalking or abusing them.

Check out Stina's blog for more links to the blogfest.

It's All Kid's Play!

A fabulous blog buddy of mine, Jean Oram, has set up a great website for anyone who has kids. It's called It's All Kid's Play and it's a TON of fun! With so many screens calling for kids' attention now, it's important to have a lot of activites that are easy, ready to go, and most of all fun.

That's where Jean comes in. Her site has 32 categories (not including jokes and book recommendations) of activities ranging from arts and crafts to sports, to challenges, to outdoor activities, to games, etc. This site is great for parents looking to cure their children's boredom blues, reconnect with some games, looking for party activities, or just looking for a way to bring more free play (unstructured, creative, child-directed play into their lives). Let's take a tour of a few of those sections...


Tricky Business: This has those goofy challenges kids (and grown up kids) love. For example, armpit farts, can't touch the floor games, catching stacked pennies off your elbow, lick your elbow (can't do that one), making salt/sugar crystals, etc. Tricky challenges are a great way to get kids back to the basics of playing. They challenge our thinking, the way we think the world works, test our boundaries and skills, and are a sure fire way to start the giggles!


 Car Rides: I feel this area of play is especially important these days as the family vehicle is one of the few places kids get to engage in free play these days. Families spend a lot of time in their vehicles commuting, driving to organized sports, etc., and it is a great place for families to reconnect and play. These days the majority of kids don't know how to entertain themselves in the vehicle without some sort of screen. On the car rides page I have a bunch of games that are great to help develop communication skills, visual skills, critical thinking skills, even math skills (and so much more). There is also a printable PDF with MORE games (than listed on the webpage) and a link to word games as well. There are so many things to do in the car! (Example games: I Spy, Round Up, How Long Will it Take?, License Plate games.)

Get out of the House: This section is great for families who are looking for something to do (heck, you don't even need to have kids for many of these!), planning a staycation, or planning an outing. This section includes many family friendly ideas on how to get everyone up, out, and moving. Spending time with your family increases individual resiliency whether you are 5 or 75. (Farmer's Market, go-carting, people watching, laser tag, go to the library, indoor wall climbing, etc.).

Those are fabulous! And those are only 3 of those 32 categories. You've got to check out the rest. I bet it'll make you want to play a game RIGHT NOW - whether you're a kid or not!

Jean and I originally met over at Agent Query Connect, where Jean is a super moderator for the site. If you haven't visited, it's an great place where writers at all stages of their careers hang out. Jean's blog is all about writing and you can also find Jean on twitter talking about writing as herself @jeanoram and representing her kids' site as @KidsPlay

What's your favourite kids' game?

Jean's got a Facebook page up and going - it looks great! Check it out too :)