When do you take bullying seriously?

by Rachel McCumber

Daniel was tense all afternoon, last Tuesday. At first, I thought it was because he had struggled with his morning routine that morning, leaving the house without a shower or lunch. However, that evening as he stood in the kitchen making the next day’s lunch, he burst out in angry tears.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me today. Everything is upsetting me and I just feel like crying!” he exclaimed.

I paused my piano playing to turn towards the kitchen.

“Don’t worry Daniel, in the grand scheme of life, a missed shower and lunch isn’t a game changer.” I reassured him.

“It’s not that!” he replied quietly, “Nobody likes me. They think I am weird.”

I waited. He seemed to be struggling, so I walked over to the kitchen and asked him, “What do they say?”

Mengajarkan Membaca, Menulis dan Mengeja

By Ellen Kristi

(Artikel dari eMagazine Sekolah Rumah)

Tak bisa dipungkiri, di era global yang serba kompetitif ini banyak orangtua yang rela melakukan apa saja agar anaknya lebih unggul dibanding rekan-rekan sebaya, crème de la crème. Salah satu ukuran yang populer dipakai untuk menilai kehebatan anak adalah kemampuan baca-tulis. Barangkali itu sebabnya kurikulum baca-tulis yang dulu baru diajarkan di tingkat Sekolah Dasar, sekarang sudah jadi pelajaran wajib di jenjang Taman Kanak-kanak (TK), bahkan Kelompok Bermain (KB).

Tetapi, apakah betul asumsi bahwa semakin dini anak belajar baca-tulis semakin cerdas kelak ia di masa depan? Atau sebaliknya, mencekoki anak dengan pelajaran formal terlalu dini justru berbahaya? Berikut ringkasan penuturan dari pakar perkembangan dan perilaku anak, dokter Susan Johnson, yang layak dicermati para orangtua.

A Tale of Two Children: From School-age Struggles to Adult Success

By Emmy Fearn, M.A.

Over seventeen years ago, just a week and a half into kindergarten, my bright, sweet five-year-old daughter Dria told me she had “failed seven times, once each day” for failing to follow her teacher’s directions. By first grade, she had fallen into the lowest reading group and was misbehaving in class, to the extent that her teacher had begun sending home a daily report card stating, “I was good today,” “I was bad today,” or “I was fair today,” which I had to sign each night and return.

Based on Dria’s troubling school behavior, our pediatrician recommended she be evaluated for attention deficit disorder (as AD/HD was then called). On the day of the assessment and diagnosis, I asked Dria if she knew why we had gone to see the doctor. Her reply was, “Yes, Mommy, because I am stupid.”

Dria’s younger brother, Jonathan, was also diagnosed with AD/HD and a learning disability when he had trouble learning to read in second grade. Nevertheless, over the years, both Dria and Jonathan have flourished academically, emotionally, and socially. Today Dria is a senior honors student and student leader at UCLA and plans to go on to law school next year. Jonathan is a freshman in computer science engineering at UC Davis. Following is the story of how our children moved from school-age struggles to adult success.

Canda Tawa Agresi

by Lita Edia

“Kalau malam hari, kamu nonton apa?” tanya saya pada seorang siswa. Sebuah acara komedi situasi disebutkan oleh siswa tersebut, sebagai jawaban dari pertanyaan saya. Dari beberapa anak yang saya tanyapun memiliki jawaban yang sama, tampaknya tayangan ini memang menjadi favorit keluarga saat ini.

Kemarin malam, saya coba melihat tayangan tersebut. Acara ini banyak menampilkan gerakan tubuh yang lucu, yang sepertinya merupakan adegan komedi favorit masyarakat Indonesia, penonton di studio pun tertawa. Lalu tayangan berlanjut dengan kata-kata ejekan, diantaranya berupa ejekan anggota tubuh, seperti pesek misalnya, penontonpun kembali tertawa. Padahal mengejek anggota tubuh tidaklah patut karena itu adalah ciptaan-Nya, tetapi siapa yang peduli ya dengan hal itu ketika melihat tayangan komedi, masak iya mau tertawa aja berpikir dulu. Tak berhenti pada ejekan anggota tubuh saja, tayangan berlanjut dengan menghubungkan anggota tubuh ini dengan profesi orangtua lawan main. “Bapak kamu pastinya tuan tanah, lihat saja badanmu yang lebar” (kalimat persisnya saya tidak hafal, kira-kira begitulah), penonton kembali tertawa terbahak-bahak. Di tayangan berikutnya, tampak adegan menjaili orang, dengan menyeruduk lawan mainnya sampai terjatuh, lagi-lagi penonton tertawa. Acara ini memang hebat, setiap adegan selalu mengundang tawa.

You Can Advocate For Your Child!

By LD Online (1998)

Even when they do not seek the position, parents of children with disabilities or gifts and talents often find themselves acting as advocates for their children. While they may advocate for changes in federal or state/provincial law, more often, parents advocate for changes in their child’s placement, a teaching strategy, or local policy. To help parents advocate successfully, Trina Osher, Director of the Family Leadership Initiative, offers the following suggestions.

Get all the information you can

The first step to successful advocacy is to gather information. Learn what is happening in the school; get copies of school records, as well as information about any tests or evaluations affecting your child; and talk with your child’s teacher to learn his or her view of areas of concern. You should also learn about special education law and its protections. You can obtain this information from the school’s special education or guidance director, state departments of education, or parent information and training centers, as well as organizations such as CEC. Because the law can be complex and difficult to understand, you might want to work with a parent advocate, who can explain the law, as well as special education procedures. Last but not least, talk with your child to learn his or her view of the situation and what he or she thinks will help. Even young children have a keen sense of their stress points and what could be done to make it easier for them to succeed.