General Topics |

March 6, 2011

The Truth About Bullying Panel Discussion

How do you know if your child is being bullied? What can you do about it? Could your child be the bully?

On March the 15th the Anne Arundel Medical Center is offering a free interactive panel discussion for parents and care givers. This discussion will give parents the opportunity to speak to and ask questions of representatives from the Medical Center, the Community College, Anne Arundel Public Schools, the Police Department and Balanced Life Skills Bully Expert Mr. Joe Van Deuren.

It is a FREE event open to the public. Prior to coming to the event you may want to take the Bully Quiz to see how many myths you may have heard, seen or believe found on the Balanced Life Skills website. Then come with your questions ready for the panel to address.

We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday March 15, 2011 at 6:30 PM at 2000 Medical Parkway / Doordan Institute 7th Floor AAMC Health Sciences Pavillion.

You may register by going online HERE and click on “Events and Classes” on the right, or call to register at 443-481-4000. If you would like your child to be trained in Bully Prevention please call Balanced Life Skills 410-263-0050. We would be happy to help.

March 4, 2011

Community Service: Susie C. environmental clean up

When I walk along the big road near my house, I notice a lot of trash. People throw their trash on the ground and it’s wrong. I wanted to do something to help.

I made signs reminding people not to litter. The signs show pictures of animals so people will know that littering hurts animals. We put the signs up on the fence along the road where people litter the most.

I got my little brother Teddy to help me, and we loaded up our wagon with trash. We picked up the litter on the road and filled a big trash bag with all the litter. It was really gross but now the side of the road looks much better.

March 4, 2011

Community Service: Emma C. cleans up a park

Emma went to the park and saw that there was trash left behind by others. She chose to take the lead and clean it up. She picked up the trash and showed what we call in our school Super Responsibility. That is, she took on a task by cleaning up a mess that she did not make. She did this task because it was the “right thing to do”. Back in October we talked about being a R.A.D. person, Reliable, Accountable, Dependable. Emma is RAD!!

Your child can learn to be RAD too. Join us in our classes as we teach martial arts and life skills.

February 24, 2011

Grants 4 Teachers: Balanced Life Skills Community Project

The winter cycle for grant applications is now complete and we will be meeting on Tuesday March 1, with the Advisory Board to award grants for applicants. We are looking forward to being able to meet some of the needs of our dedicated teachers in Anne Arundel County along with Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County.

If you are a teacher that would like a grant to accomplish something special in your classroom be sure to make application. If you are a person or business that would like to support and build the morale of teachers in our county please investigate what we are doing and consider contributing to the Grants 4 Teachers Fund.

February 23, 2011

Ryan R. supports Kidsico Orphanage in Kenya

Ryan R 1 — toys sent to orphanage in Kenya

My service project was to help collect gifts for the Kidsico Orphange in Mongomu,Kenya. Our youth group at church made denim bags for each of the kids and we filled them with little toys and school supplies.

I picked out the animals in the picture. We made flash cards with the names of the animals in English and Swahili. The pastor in Africa sent us pictures of the kids with the presents we sent. I think they really liked my gift!

February 23, 2011

Fairness: Listening to the whole story

Teaching children about listening is more than just getting them to listen to us as their parent or teacher. If we would like to help them to develop good leadership skills, then we must also teach them to listen to the whole story. Listening to the whole story prior to coming to a conclusion will save ourselves from embarrassment and our relationships with others. Here is one way we may be able to do that.

To start conversations with a child you may want to use what I call, “What if” questions. “What if I walked into the room and I saw _______standing in the middle of a big mess?” Who would I might think made the mess? If I saw that I might want to say to ________ “clean up!” Is that fair? Would it not be a better question to ask, “what happened?” and hear the whole story? We may find out that someone else made the mess, or that the person was in the middle of cleaning up the mess. Listening makes things fair.

Practicing this ourselves and taking the time to help our children see how and why we ask such questions will help them to do the same as they come into situations with their friends.