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Category: Purpose

Lifting a Teen from the Mud of Self-Absorbed Pity

Judge Gilliam – I disagree.  The latest “viral” Faceook is a reprint of a 1959 published letter from Judge Philip B. Gilliam of Denver,Colorado.  Parents (and grandparents) of teens and tweens are lauding it as sage advice that “Every teenager should have this framed and hung on their wall in their room.” A part of …

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Permanent link to this article: https://growageneration.com/2012/08/15/lifting-a-teen-from-the-mud-of-self-absorbed-pity/

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

I just finished reading Switch by Chip and Dan Heath from the perspective of a person and parent trying to understand how to motivate myself and my child to action. It was a great complement to Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow reviewed last month.  The Heath’s metaphor for what Kahneman called System One and System …

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Permanent link to this article: https://growageneration.com/2012/07/13/switch/

Music/STEM Careers

Infographic of Music/STEM Careers

Preparing our kids for the 21st century involves exciting them about STEM education and making sure they are literate in science, technology, engineering and math.  Many are asking that we put an “A” for the Arts into STEM education, making STEAM education the focus of 21st century learning. That begs the question – does that …

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Permanent link to this article: https://growageneration.com/2012/07/05/musicstem-careers/

Musically Gifted: Tools to Help Parent

Do you believe your child is musically gifted? They may –       think in terms of chords or harmony, –       look at numerous lines of music on a page and hear it in their head, –       quickly learn to read and play music, –       show creative improvisational talent, –       enjoy composition, –       live as though they …

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Permanent link to this article: https://growageneration.com/2012/06/22/musically-gifted-tools-to-help-parent/

Thinking Fast and Slow and Being a Devil’s Advocate

Daniel Kahneman, the psychologist who won the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics, wrote what is considered by the NY and LA Times, Economist, and Wall Street Journal, one of the best books of 2011. In Thinking Fast and Slow :  He uses questions to understand the brain, for example: A bat and ball cost a …

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Permanent link to this article: https://growageneration.com/2012/06/16/thinking-fast-and-slow-and-being-a-devils-advocate/

Summer Goals and Portfolio Building

Do you actually sit down and set goals with your kids?  Share your experiences! I’m big on goal setting.  I have my own mission and goals I visit often, and so do my kids.  I read and listen to leaders in education and 21st century businesses announce that our kids need to not merely have …

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Permanent link to this article: https://growageneration.com/2012/06/08/summer-goals-and-portfolio-building/

Temporary Setback or Epic Fail?

For those who have been following the Grow a Generation blog, you may have noticed a deadline came and went.  The book, Grow a Generation: Parenting in the 21st Century did not get published in time for the April 2012 deadline.  Quietly, I went into the website and marketing brochures and switched the “upcoming” date …

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Permanent link to this article: https://growageneration.com/2012/05/23/temporary-setback-or-epic-fail/

My Child Wants to Design Video Games Part Three: Develop a Portfolio

A unanimous sentiment of our the co-authors is “The biggest, most important piece of advise I can give anyone interested in making games for a living is to start making games now.” A college degree is important, but that degree has to accompanied by a portfolio to the interview question: What games have you worked …

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Permanent link to this article: https://growageneration.com/2012/05/10/my-child-wants-to-design-video-games-part-three-develop-a-portfolio/

A Worthy Quest: Chip Conley’s “Peak” and A Teenager’s Pyramid of Needs

We fear our highest possibilities. We are generally afraid to become that which we can glimpse in our most perfect moment, under the most perfect conditions, under conditions of greatest courage. We enjoy and even thrill to the godlike possibilities we see in ourselves in such peak moments. And yet we simultaneously shiver with weakness, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://growageneration.com/2012/04/05/a-worthy-quest-chip-conleys-peak-and-a-teenagers-pyramid-of-needs/

Dreams and Hopes for a New Year in the Eighth Continent

Eighteen year old Ben Breedlove died on Christmas Day, leaving behind a touching video on the heart condition that took his life.  This young man, who had struggled since age four with the fear of a young death, used social media to reach out to his friends and make new friends.  Ben created the popular …

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Permanent link to this article: https://growageneration.com/2011/12/30/dreams-and-hopes-for-a-new-year-in-the-eighth-continent/