How do we help our kids who fear failure? It’s a question many parents grapple with as they watch their youngsters grow up and try new things. Luckily, Dr. Michele Borba has written this guest post on how we can help girls overcome life’s early stumbles. Dr. Borba is a globally-recognized educational psychologist and parenting, bullying and character expert whose aim is to strengthen children’s empathy and resilience, and break the cycle of youth violence. She has delivered keynotes and workshops to over 1,000,000 participants and authored 24 books translated into 14 languages. Helping Kids Who Fear Failure One of the inevitable facts of life is that everyone makes mistakes. Granted, some mistakes are more significant than others and harder to get over, but they are a part of life. How individuals deal with those mistakes is significant to their self-esteem. Children with high self-esteem appear much better at coping with their errors. Watching children with positive self-perceptions deal with an error is always a magnificent sight. These children literally stand up, brush off their knees, and say, “Well, I blew it. What should I do differently next time?” They recognize that a mistake was made and admit the error. Most importantly, these children also develop a strategy to change the mistake and not do the same thing again. What they do, in reality, is learn from their errors. The process of making and learning from mistakes is an extremely valuable life skill because learning involves risking. Every time children risk, they will not always …

COVID-19 continues to devastate the Arts. The virus is spiking nationally, meaning the majority of Arts & Culture institutions will remain shuttered for the foreseeable future. This month the intersectional grassroots campaign “Be An #ArtsHero” is urging all 100 U.S. Senators to pass proportionate relief to the Arts & Culture sector of the American economy by August 1, 2020, when Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation ends (leaving 30 million at risk of eviction, bankruptcy, illness due to lack of healthcare coverage, and worse). Arts & Culture sector is 4.5 percent of GDP The call for funding is based on economic data that proves there can be no full American economic recovery without an Arts & Culture recovery. The Arts & Culture sector is 4.5 percent of GDP and responsible for up to $877 billion in value added to the U.S. economy, according to data collected by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA). Arts & Culture production is second only to Retail and adds more to GDP than Agriculture, Transportation, Construction, and Tourism. “Arts & Culture is so enmeshed with other industries, such as transportation, tourism and hospitality, that to do nothing and allow COVID-19 to ‘gut’ us would essentially cause a systematic collapse of a huge swath of the American economy,” said “Be An #ArtsHero” Citizen Organizer Jenny Grace Makholm. “The Arts & Culture sector is not a luxury, it is a cornerstone of the economy and necessitates proportionate relief immediately.” Makholm also points out the common “survival jobs” for …

As a young girl Piera Van de Wiel loved to sing. At eight she fell in love with the song “I Could Have Danced All Night” from MY FAIR LADY. With help from a little karaoke machine, she sang out the tune continuously. One day her grandfather came upon an inhouse performance. Van de Wiel suddenly hid behind him as she belted out the high notes. Her grandfather asked why she was hiding as her singing was beautiful. “Well I’m afraid of my high notes,” was the reply. Van de Wiel’s grandfather told her to have confidence in her talent, abilities, and to stand in front of him and sing out. She did exactly that and today Van de Wiel continues to stand up, sing out, and have confidence as she moves forward with her career. Born in England, the singer-songwriter and actor spent a large part of childhood on the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas. After Hurricane Dorian devastated the region in 2019, Van de Wiel wrote the single “Come Back Home (Abaco Relief Song)” to aid humanitarian efforts. The song won a Silver Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Listener Impact at the Global Music Awards for independent artists. Van de Wiel has long believed in the power of music. When she was 15-years-old, her best friend was tragically killed in a car accident. Reeling with grief, Van de Wiel found comfort when a music teacher suggested she pour her emotions into songwriting. Through crafting songs, she gave voice to her grief and came …

Growing up, I lovingly lined The Baby-Sitters Club (BSC) books numerically along a closet shelf. While my collecting volumes ended decades ago, the affection I have for BSC remains strong. That’s why I was thrilled to receive a screener invite for episode one of Netflix’s new THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB series. Hosted by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media (GDIGM), the event included a follow-up Q&A with Showrunner Rachel Shukert and Director and Executive Producer Lucia Aniello. Enduring Popularity THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB follows the friendship and babysitting adventures of five best friends in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. In the initial announcement about the show’s release, author Ann M. Martin said, “I’m amazed that there are so many passionate fans of The Baby-Sitters Club after all these years, and I’m honored to continue to hear from readers – now grown, who have become writers, editors, teachers, librarians, filmmakers – who say that they see a reflection of themselves in the characters of Kristy and her friends. So I’m very excited about the forthcoming series on Netflix, which I hope will inspire a new generation of readers and leaders everywhere.” During the Q&A hosted by GDIGM, Shukert pointed out this is the first adaptation of BSC to be made by people who grew up with the material. Both she and Aniello were obsessive about the books as youngsters. In fact Aniello shared she often shies away from working on reboots or reimagining old material. When her agent asked what project she’d never turn down, the answer was BSC. It’s no coincidence the main character Kristy sits down …