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Quote of the Week
What's done to children, they will do to society. - Karl Menninger
Seven Ways To Foster Gratitude In Kids
"Research has shown that gratitude plays a major role in an adult's well-being and success, but there has been little corresponding research addressing its development and enhancement in children's lives.[...] In more recent years, two long-term studies have shown why gratitude may be particularly beneficial to youngsters.
One study linked gratitude to greater social support and protection from stress and depression over time. A second study, involving gift-giving in sororities, showed that beneficiaries (new pledges) were most grateful when they felt understood, valued, and cared for by a benefactor (veteran sisters), and that this predicted a sense of connection to each other and to the sorority overall.
These results suggest that gratitude not only helps people form, maintain, and strengthen supportive relationships, but it also helps people feel connected to a caring community." [more]
Reading Corner
 "The Blankful Heart" is a delightful, Seuss-inspired tale about what is really necessary-- which is actually not nearly as much as you might think. Certainly not nearly as much stuff as the inhabitants of Babbleland think, who always "made sure to buy many things... the men many cars / the women big rings."
One Babblelander in particular, big-bellied Billy Babble, had lots of stuff-- two of everything and twice as much as everyone else! Mind, he doesn't SHARE any of his stuff, nor does he find any of it even useful, but in Babbleland, of cousre, the point is just to have great piles of stuff.
Not suprisingly, though, something is missing. What exactly ol' Billy can't quite say, so he goes to a series of doctors, takes all the right medications and nothing quite fills that strange emptiness. That is, until he takes a trip to Bibbleville, where the inhabitants seem to be perfectly happy and well adjusted playing games with only bits of string. Billy is confounded by all of this until a small Bibblevillian befriends him and points out what is REALLY important.
It's a delightful, simple story that Mr. Meus has given us, with a simple-yet-important moral, especially in today's GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE! culture. in choosing to emulate Ted Geisel, Mr. Meus has not only given the story a bouncy rhythm and metre, but also immediately tuned the reader in to one of the most iconic and important voices in the history of children's literature, immediately drawing us in from the very first few words."
-Amazon Reviewer
Recommended by Cubs Editors
Be The Change
Thanksgiving would be incomplete without featuring musicians Nimo Patel and Daniel Nahmod, who brought together dozens of people from around the world to create this beautiful, heart-opening melody - Grateful: A Love song to the World. Inspired by the 21-Day Gratitude Challenge, this song is a celebration of our spirit and all that is a blessing in life. For the 21 Days, over 11,000 participants from 118 countries learned that gratefulness is a habit cultivated consciously and a muscle built over time. This soul-stirring music video, created within a week by a team of volunteers, shines the light on all the small things that make up the beautiful fabric of our lives. Happy ThanksGiving.
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