Tuesday, July 27, 2010

InklessTales.com: Ask Elizabeth asks the Girl Scouts about Bullies.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Thinking like a kid.

Kids come right off the cabbage patch with the SAME intelligence, the SAME emotional strength as we do, but WITHOUT the experience with which to guide this prodigious power.
Therefore, their perspectives are NOT the same as ours.
I am often asked: "Would you rather be a kid, or a grownup?"
Hands-down, I say, GROWNUP.
I can drive, in my own convertible, to the grocery store, and buy myself a can of cake frosting, and I don't have to even bake a cake. I can just get a spoon, and eat the frosting if I want.
No one can stop me.
Kids have to ask permission even to EAT.
"Mom? Can I have a sandwich?"
Many kids can't even reach the tap for a glass of WATER.
What incredible powerless we take totally for granted. Imagine if you couldn't even drink water without help? Imagine how horribly frustrated you would be all the time?
Of course, we, as adults, need to balance this FOR them. We can't just let toddlers at the china and say "Go at it, I know how awful you must feel."
We need to teach them responsibility - but ALWAYS, ALWAYS, let us keep in mind the frustration they constantly feel, and try to keep positive always with them.
Remember always to "catch them doing something GOOD."

Remember how they'd rather be outside playing, than inside learning dates of battles.


Short Attention Span

I have a short attention span
I get distracted easily
I’m not that good at listening
That’s what my teachers say to me.

My mother says it’s X-Box games
My dad says it’s cartoons.
My older sister only yells
And shoos me from her room.

I really cannot stand it though
That staring at the board,
That swimmy, sinking feeling
When your brain begins to roar.

The teacher’s talking battles,
Like a lullaby, it seems,
How is it he can make a sleepy sound
Of every fighting scene?

Didn’t they have Ninjas
In the War of 1812?
If they didn’t, well, they should have.
It would make a better sell.

They can yell at me forever
They can shake their heads and frown,
But the sky will still be out there
Even if the shades are down.

If I were tall, and teaching
I would try to understand
How the sky and sunlight pull on us
How we try the best we can.

In the meantime, there’s the window,
And eventually, the door,
Someday I will be a teacher
With the window shades up more.

© 2005 Elizabeth Bushey