Blog Action Day - Global Warming

Today, bloggers all over the world are writing about one issue, to spread the word and raise awareness of global warming. If you want to participate, go here.

As the name implies, global warming is a global problem, and it is going to require that we all come together to solve this problem. There are personal habits we can change, but we also need political will to make a change.

The science is real. The problem is real. And it's actually not that hard to understand:



It's scary. It's a BIG problem, and it will affect our children and the entire future of our species and our planet. But this is no time for despair, this is a time for Action.

1. Change some of your habits, and lower your carbon footprint. Reduce the amount you use your car, reduce the amount of disposable stuff you use, reduce the amount of energy required to heat your home.

2. Support forests. Trees and forests offset some of our gases, and deforestation is part of the problem. Drink shade grown coffee, donate money and effort to places like the Nature Conservancy, tell your lawmakers you love forests, look at how and what you are eating to see if forest was cut down to make grazing land for your hamburger.

3. Support political efforts to make global political changes. This December the world leaders gather in Copenhagen to once again discuss a treaty on global warming. Let them know how you feel. Participate in a 350.org action on October 24th, to send a message that we want our leaders to cap CO2 levels at 350. You can find a local action here.

4. Blog about this today!

Quote of the Day

It may be a little easier if we know ahead of time that some of the intensity we feel as we try to help our own children with their hard times is very likely related to what we went through ourselves when we were children. Even if our childhoods were relatively problem-free, growing always presents us with difficulties to be overcome ... and the memories of these difficulties are so easily awakened as our children encounter similar difficulties of their own.

Many Ways to Say I Love You: Wisdom for Parents and Children from Mister Rogers

by Fred Rogers (one of my personal Saints)

A bit of our homeschooling - handwork

It can be hard to sit still, and many kinesthetic learners will tell you it helps them concentrate to have some kind of movement to do. Some scribble during lectures, some do fancy pen twirling, and more and more folks knit.

There are many educational methods that teach children some kind of handwork: Charlotte Mason, Waldorf, Montessori, and others. Doing something with your hands was something I was taught as well, along with an attitude of "never sit idle" that encourages me to sew or knit or embroider while I watch TV or sit and listen to our read alouds at night.

For little kids, having something to do with their hands has many benefits. They are learning coordination, concentration, and focus. It can also help little squirmers sit still and listen while you read to them. Carbon's current handwork is the knitting mushroom, and he did enough with some of my old yarn that he got to go to the yarn store and pick out his own ball of yarn - he selected a lovely bright red wool.

Standing on the Side of Love

Yesterday we stood and held hands outside our state Capitol, and we sang:

Standing on the side of love,
arms linked together,
our hearts beat as one.
Emboldened by faith
we dare to proclaim
We are standing on the side of love.

We canceled our regular Religious Education classes so that all our families could come out for our public witness, supporting full equal rights under the law for GLBT families and couples.

Did all of the kids understand what this meant? Did they understand the details of the laws we were talking about? No.

When the minister asked who had ever loved someone, and then asked them to imagine what they want for people they love, and then asked them to imagine extending those same things - that same love - to everyone, they understood that.

Too tired

I am so tired from my work weekend, that I find I cannot post about Religious Education tonight. Tomorrow.

Meanwhile, check this Tauntaun sleeping bag out.

A Child's Land

I just got back from a day at The Great Wolf Lodge with my MIL and the kids. This is a lodge out in the middle of nowhere, with a waterpark and other attractions for families to enjoy during their stay in the hotel.

I was impressed with the hotel, and with the fact that the families mostly seemed so happy with each other. It made me wonder, to see so many dad's playing with their kids and that even when the parents were tired or frazzled, they were smiling at how much fun their kids were having. I suppose that isn't realistic, to have those family dynamics all the time. But still - it's nice to see.

Assume Good Intentions

When I teach or facilitate an adult class or conversation, I like to set a guideline of "assume good intentions". In other words, even if another participant says something that sounds mean or rude or biased, assume that they didn't mean it that way - assume that they are well-meaning underneath their gaffes or quirks.

This is a grown-up version of a saying I used to quote: "Never assume malice when stupidity could explain it". That saying was very helpful to me when I was younger, especially as a driver. If someone tailgates you or cuts you off on the road, they probably weren't "out to get you" - but you can go ahead and roll your eyes and think "idiot".

Now, I try to not think of people as "idiots" anymore, while still assuming they hold no malice. Even if this is not always true, even if I am sometimes "turning the other cheek" to a person who really was acting without good-intentions, I still choose to live as though my fellow humans are innately good people.

Yesterday my nanny recounted an interaction between my children. They were both playing, when Hypatia said she needed to go to the bathroom. Carbon, as soon as he heard that, shouted "I need to go pee too!" and sprinted to get to the bathroom before she could. The nanny was unhappy with him for doing that, and she was telling him through the door that that was a mean thing to do, and then she told Hypatia that she was sorry her brother had done that. Hypatia answered "he must have really had to pee to make him do that".

My nanny was surprised at that attitude from a three year old, but I recognize it as my "assume good intentions" philosophy. (Of course, Carbon's "me first" attitude is another issue altogether).

How we live is how they learn.