~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The
ARKGROUP (Adults Relating to Kids)
formerly The Children's
Center for Self-Esteem ARK 'N ACTION July
2009
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In this
issue:
-- Quality Time With Your Kids
-- Jan's Parenting Corner -
-- ARK UPDATES AND CONTACTS
-- MUSINGS FROM BILL: "A Website - Predicts the Future for
Dropouts"
This month of July has been a scorcher in Houston and Dallas. The good news: I hear the voices of excitement and joy from the city and community pools where the youngsters have been splashing and enjoying the summer. I can think of nothing I enjoy more than taking my two grandchildren to the neighborhood pool. It is a place of magic, wetness and joy for them and me, too. Hope you will have the chance to take someone special in your life to a pool real soon. As I reflected recently at the pool about childhood, I recalled a poem
by Billy Collins, poet laureate of the United States. You know, by the time we are early adults at 12 to 17, perhaps earlier, our sense of who we are is increasingly the product of our culture. In our culture, these messages center around appearance, achievement and affluence. Are we attractive enough? Are we good enough? Are we cool? Am I enough? We at the ARKGroup want you to know that you are the best messenger to
your children and students to counter the false messages of our culture.
Your unconditional love has a greater impact on their self- concept than
all the performance measures ever to be thrown at them by our
community. WE TRUST THAT YOU ENJOY READING ABOUT THE MANY WAYS ARK IS CHANGING LIVES FOR THE BETTER AND HOPE YOU CONTINUE YOUR VERY VITAL SUPPORT! Philanthropy is almost the only virtue which is sufficiently appreciated by mankind.--- Henry David Thoreau, Walden | |
Quality Time With Your Kids ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Thanks to Thaddeus Lawrence for many of the
following insights. All around the world parents walk the tightrope of
perpetually balancing family and career. Articles in publications
worldwide such as the Taipei Times quote surveys which show that
being ignored by their parents is "a major source of unhappiness in
elementary children in Asia". The studies indicate also that "universally,
parents want to spend more time with their children".
Relationships thrive not only on the amount of time spent together, but
also on the quality of that time. The time together without agenda in what
Matthew Kelly, in his book The Seven Levels of Intimacy, coined
"carefree timelessness". Your sole intention is to achieve nothing other
than to be fully present and enjoy each other's company. Your full
attention on your child in these moments allows for a significant
connection to be formed. Clearly you will have daily obligations to fulfill and busy schedules, long work hours and numerous urgent tasks to complete. In order to allocate more energy for your child, it may be necessary to review the way you spend your time ,and that means prioritizing your daily duties. Turning your relationship with your child into your main concern may take some changes and sacrifices. Over time, your life change as your altered daily routine becomes a habit and hence more natural. Small changes in your routine can have a tremendous impact on your family. In an interview on Larry King Live and the Pentagon Channel
, number one golfer and family man Tiger Woods recalls fondly how his
parents played a big role in his life. During his younger days, his mother
took him to every junior golf tournament and even kept score. His father,
though busy at work, always made time for him and laid aside whatever he
was doing whenever the younger Woods wanted to talk to him. Share with us your suggestions of hope and encouragement, and we will pass them on to others. | |
Jan's Parenting Corner - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  A woman is in a grocery store happens upon a grandpa
and his poorly behaving three-year-old grandson at every turn. It's
obvious Gramps has his hands full with the kid screaming for candy in the
candy aisle, cookies in the cookie aisle, same for fruit, cereal, and
soda.Meanwhile, Gramps is working his way around, saying in a controlled voice, "Easy, Albert, we won't be long - easy, boy." Another outburst, and she hears Gramps calmly say, "It's okay, Albert, just a couple more minutes and we'll be outta here - hang in there.'" At the checkout, the little terror is throwing items out of the cart, and Gramps again in a controlled voice is saying, "Albert, Albert, relax buddy, don't get upset. We'll be home in five minutes; stay cool, Albert." Very impressed, the woman goes outside where Gramps is loading his groceries and the boy into the car. "You know, sir, it's none of my business but you were amazing in there. I don't know how you did it. That whole time you kept your composure, and no matter how loud and disruptive he got, you just calmly kept saying things would be okay. Albert is very lucky to have you for his grandpa." "Thanks, lady," said Gramps, "but I'm Albert - that little brat's name is Johnny." Taking a small child out in public can be a trying experience if you haven't made proper preparations first. Make sure that Johnny is not hungry, is not tired or sleepy, or is not sick or ill. Also, it's a good idea to play games with the child while in the store, "Let's see who can find an item on the shelf that starts with an 'A', or 'an item that is blue,' etc. It's also a good idea to tell the child, "After I've spent a few minutes shopping, we'll go by the toy section and look at things there, OK?" Understand that a small child is not going to have an adult's attention span, and try to make the outing as fun and entertaining as possible! Change your thoughts and change the world.--- Norman Vincent Peale The ARKGroup challenges you to pioneer the start of an ARK for Parents group at your neighborhood church or community center and/or to ask your local school to implement ARK for Teachers. To find out about facilitating an ARK Program in your area, give us a
CALL! Check out one of our HeadStart Early HeadStart Collaboratives - Avance. You will be glad you did. | |
ARK UPDATES AND CONTACTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Our Faith-based Programs For our friends and followers, we have had outstanding, record-breaking participation through July, 2009, with hundreds of churches in the Dallas and Houston areas participating in our ARK for Parents faith-based church programs. The Facilitator training (which prepares churches to provide this outstanding program either to the entire congregation or to smaller groups, such as Sunday School classes) can be scheduled to fit the schedule of those who commit to serve as facilitators. Thanks to wonderful gifts by kind benefactors, we are able to provide ARK for Parents programs to many churches who require scholarship assistance. The program includes facilitator training, lessons on DVDs, books, and a host of supporting materials and services. We invite you to make sure that your church takes advantage of this wonderful opportunity. Contact us today by e-mail, letter or by telephone in Dallas at 817-268-2100 or Houston at 281-537-1301 to reserve these programs for your church. We know these programs will enable your church family to enrich the lives of the children under their care. Our School Programs: The ARKGroup is now providing training and materials nationwide for schools from preschool level through college in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. These booklets, materials and videos provide the tools and activities that enable administrators, counselors and teachers to relate to students with the love and care that is integral to building and reinforcing children's self-esteem. ARK is aware of many organizations who want to incorporate the ARK experience in their programs but who need financial assistance to do so. Even public schools frequently don't have the resources that will allow them to offer their students the life- changing benefits of ARK. DID YOU KNOW THAT ...your gift of $100. will introduce ARK to a school, a United Way-supported agency, a neighborhood center or a church?... that your donation of $1,000. will provide ARK programming for an entire school?...that your contribution of $10,000. will allow the ARKGroup to equip 10 schools within a school district to begin the ARK for Teachers and ARK for Parents programs? GoodSearch - a way to support ARK while using the Internet. You can contribute to the ARKGroup so that we in turn might invest in your favorite community- service organization, church, juvenile justice program, or school--just by searching the Internet or shopping online with GoodSearch - www.goodsearch.com - powered by Yahoo! | |
MUSINGS FROM BILL: "A Website - Predicts the Future for Dropouts" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Yes, we do have a drop out problem in this country,
but what does it mean to you personally and to us as a community? The LiveUnited website has created such a forecaster and it is available to you at www.liveunited.org/forecaster. What would happen if we could help everyone to attain one more educational level? The site predicts that we would live longer. Life expectancy would increase nearly two years. We would also earn more. Median personal income could jump by 26%, The ranks of the unemployed would shrink by 26,613 people. About 122,246 fewer citizens would live in poverty. Now this is a site I could learn to love. Of course, the numbers and projections on this site are only rough
estimates. In fact, the number they begin with as to actual drop-out rates
in our school districts are actually understated. But, this site did get
me to dreaming and I hope you will join me in this land of imagination,
hope and joyful expectations.
| |
Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: wduffyark@sbcglobal.net
phone: 281-537-1301
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
