Teaching children about persistence

Both children and adults have more power when they understand the meaning of powerful words, like persistence.

I often tell children in our classes, "Kidpower is teaching you persistence, which means not giving up. We want you to use your persistence to set boundaries and to get help if you need it."

Then I have everyone repeat after me, "Everybody say, 'persistence'!'"

Now, some children know how to persist, but they do it in negative ways by whining and getting upset when they don't get their way. Our job as adults is to help them learn how to persist in positive ways and how to accept disappointment gracefully.

Adults can help children learn to use their persistence by:

• Giving them opportunities to overcome challenges;
• Complimenting them when they are persisting in a positive way;
• Telling them if they get discouraged that even if something doesn't work that you are proud of them for using their persistence and trying their best;
• Guiding them to be persistent and positive by asking them to use a regular voice instead of whining; and
• Helping them deal with disappointment by telling them you admire their persistence even if they are not going to get what they want.

I'd love to have your ideas and stories about different ways of teaching children to persist appropriately and positively.

Be Willing to Look like a Fool! - Great Advice for Fundraising and Teaching Alike

The best fund raising - and teaching - advice I've ever gotten came from a master fundraiser of a very conservative very official organization. This man always wore a three-piece suit and raised over 100 million dollars from individuals for his cause.

"You have to be willing," this very wise man told me, "to look like a fool!"

Of course, I do my best to be credible, but I've found that at some point you have to let go of appearances, take a leap of faith, and communicate your message with all your heart.

Fundraising is actually a form of teaching. When you are teaching, you are educating people about a skill or idea you think is important. When you are fundraising, you are educating people about why they should give to your cause.

Our third 2-minute vodcast takes this advice very much to heart, with PuppetPower both for teaching safety and for fundraising.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clWY8ifPPjM

This was filmed in my living room with a couple of lamps and no fancy equipment. I'm getting over a cold, and my voice sounds like it. My hair has a mind of its own. Patrick Heaviside is volunteering his time to film, edit, and produce these with some coaching from my brother, Ken, and you can probably tell that we are learning as we go.

PuppetPower came into being when we learned that people, especially young children, will often listen to puppets better than they listen to us. This two-minute Vodcast has Duck and Tiger showing why awareness is important - and has Duck reminding me to ask for help.

I hope you'll have as much fun watching it as we did creating it!

And I do hope you'll put Kidpower on your holiday giving list! Donating is easy. Just go to:
https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=2854

THANK YOU!