Events for the week of Nov. 13 - 19

Parenting in a Too Much of Everything World • Thu, Nov. 16, 6:30-7:30 pm • Jefferson Elementary
• Dr. William Doherty will be speaking to parents on the topic of "Parenting in a Too Much of Everything World." $5 suggested donation. Limited on-site childcare available (reserve in advance). To register, call Glenda at 494-0913

Goodview PTA Silent Auction • Fri, Nov. 17, 6 pm • Goodview Elementary, 5100 W. 9th St., Goodview
• Some items to be auctioned include tools, gift certificates for dining & oil changes, themed baskets, and many more items from area businesses. There will also be a raffle, kids games, and a bake sale. Admission is free, bid numbers are $1.

Cotter Winter Clothing, Coat, and Toy Drive • Fri, Nov. 17 - Wed, Nov 22 • Cotter High School, HyVee, Midtown Foods
• Cotter High School is sponsoring a winter clothing and toy drive to benefit the Dakota Indians from Crow Creek Indian Reservation in Fort Thompson, South Dakota. Winter coats, clothing, and toy donations can be dropped off at the main office at Cotter High School from 8-4, or at Hy-Vee and Midtown Foods. Financial donations are also welcome to help defray transportation expenses. Tribal members are in need of winter gear such as jackets, hats, mittens, boots, blankets, sweaters, or any other winter warm wear. Toy donations for children would also be appreciated to give as gifts for the holiday season.

Deaf Awareness Fair • Sat, Nov. 18, 1-3 pm • Winona Middle School
• Sign language activities, arts and crafts, games, sign songs, food. Suggested donation of $5 per family. Presented by the WSU ASL Club. More info: 458-8192

Did we miss your event? Add it in the comments section.

What would happen if you paid your kids to get along?

From NPR's "This American Life":
"Lisa LaBorde has two daughters, and having grown up an only child, she can't understand why they fight all the time.... Lisa decides to enlist the aid of science to see if she can turn these enemies into friends, in just a month." So Lisa paid the older sister, who was 12, $100 to play with her four-year-old little sister every day for a month. Her theory was that the positive attention from her older sister would reduce the younger sister's inclination to annoy her older sister...she called it the "Kill Her With Kindness Experiment." She recorded the number of times she needed to intervene in the kids' fighting. After a month, she found that the kids were indeed fighting less...but also realized that her constant intervention had been part of the problem.

You can hear the whole story (18 minutes), including clips of the kids' interaction and some reflection on whether it makes sense to pay siblings to be nice to one another (!), at This American Life. Click on "Complete archives," then on the show for November 10, 2006 (David and Goliath).

Better parenting through neuroscience

Mel Levine, a neuroscientist at the University of North Carolina, studies how children learn. In a speech this past summer, he suggests that education needs to be much more personalized and more specialized. In a speech this past summer, he talked about how kids learn, and what that suggests about how we ought to raise our kids. Some of his thoughts:

• Parents and teachers should teach kids how to learn by talking to them about what's happening in their brain as they learn, and helping them to hone key learning skills--for instance, practicing previewing skills.
  
• Parents and teachers should look for their kids strengths, and work on building those strengths rather than focusing exclusively on kids' deficits.
• "Kids who have to struggle a bit in their time in school are really getting an education that's very valuable."
• Too much success too early in life can leave kids vulnerable later on, because those kids don't learn how to cope with feelings of inadequacy.
• "Don't tell your kids to have fun in school. Say, 'I hope you have an extremely interesting day....'" Why? "Fun" has connotations of instant gratification through a relatively superficial experience. Interest develops more gradually and probes more deeply.
• The strong emphasis on visual motor ecstacy -- video games, sports, and so on -- is causing kids to have trouble expressing themselves through language, because those activities don't require kids to practice their language skills.
• Between the ages of 11 and 20, kids brains change dramatically as the most-used neural pathways get reinforced with a protective coating, and the least-used neural pathways get pruned away.
  
• "Kids ought to start working on their autobiographies starting at age six" -- that is, kids should be taught to reflect on who they are, what their affinities are, and where they're going.

You can listen to the whole talk at Minnesota Public Radio.

Statements of Candidates for the ISD 861 School Board

Several weeks ago, the Winona Early Childhood Family Education PTA invited candidates for the ISD 861 school board (Winona Area Public Schools) to submit statements to be posted on this website. We kept the invitation simple: "Tell us why you should be on the school board." We didn't specify a format, length, or topics to be addressed; nor have we edited their statements. All of the candidates have responded except Ted Benson, a write-in candidate for District 1 who entered the race late. If he chooses to submit a statement, we will post it as soon as we receive it.

We wanted to provide the candidates with this open forum so that interested voters could hear what each candidate has to offer. We are not endorsing any particular candidate; we only encourage voters to cast an informed vote. The election is Tuesday, Nov. 7.

You can view the statements by clicking on the links below, or click on the "Candidate statements" link in the navigation bar on the left to view all the statements.

At Large Candidates
Stacey Mounce Arnold
Greg Fellman
John Goplen
Natalie Siderius

District 1 Candidates
Ted Hazelton
Larry Laber
Ted Benson (write-in candidate)

District 2 Candidates
Brian Neal (running unopposed)

"When I connect with my neighbors, they return it in kind"

“Can one act of friendliness start to generate peace? I believe it can. Peace begins with one person but spreads like warmed syrup. When I connect with my neighbors, they return it in kind.” One waitress's moving testimonial to the power of building relationships in our community, from Ivory Harlow at NPR.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome linked to brain defects

From the Boston Globe:

Babies who die of SIDS apparently have not developed a sort of "alarm system" that would make them respond to rising carbon dioxide levels by turning their heads and breathing harder, said Dr. Hannah Kinney of Children's Hospital, who is senior author of the study, published in today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

You can read the whole article at the Boston Globe.