"I've still got a big hurt here, where Emma [beloved dog recently deceased] lives," said Anna, placing her hand on her chest. "It's different from when my first nanny died, before you became my mummy."

"Shall we do this?" Maisie stopped and faced her daughter. She lifted her hands and placed first her left hand against her chest, and then her right hand on top of her left.

"Follow me --see what I've done with my hands? You can close your eyes and cradle your heart, then before you know it the pain starts to go away."

Anna faced her mother and followed her lead. Resting her small hands against the buttons on her school blazer, she closed her eyes. "I can feel it, Mummy. The hurt is starting to go."

"We can do it again before bedtime --in fact, any time you feel the hurt about Emma. It's like giving your heart a lovely soft cuddle."

Heroine Maisie Dobbs in The Consequences of Fear by Jacqueline Winspear. Read Jacqueline's Maisie Dobbs series in sequence if you like historical mysteries with thoughtful, inspiring insights.

Have a great spring weekend with your families, Parmalee

Download CAMPS 2021 pdf!

When your young child has panic attacks - hyperventilating, pacing, heart racing, shaking- what do you do? Ask your friends for help!

Drawing birds helps David Sibley interact with them—it forces him to look at birds completely and ask questions he had not considered by just observing them. Watch his tutorials and try your hand at drawing some of your favorite birds.

David makes it easy in a 5 minute video > > > https://bit.ly/3s4FcbS

I get lots of requests from parents regarding their students. I am used to accommodating all sorts of needs, and in the online webinar format, it’s very easy to do that. But there’s one request that I’ve received that I will never accommodate, and that’s canceling history or ideas from my courses.

Though “cancel culture” is in the news a lot, let me start by explaining how it works in an online course for children. [Here’s Wikipedia if you want more details.] No matter what subject I’m teaching, whether it’s language, music, or food, we face what I call capital-C Content. That’s content that may not be child-appropriate, may be offensive to some people, or may refer to subjects that are offensive to some people.

My job as a teacher is to decide how to deal with capital-C Content in an age-appropriate manner. Continue > > >

Suki Wessling is a local mom, author, musician and teacher who thinks deeply and writes logically. More about Suki > > >