HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive

We have all experienced moments in which we are so immersed in a task that we lose track of time and performance feels effortless. For some, this may occur on the sports field; for others, in the classroom; and still, for others, in the performance hall.

Yet, we have likely also experienced the opposite. For many children, the struggle for concentration is probably more prevalent.

Last week, we began a three-part series with Dr. Kevin Majeres. We discussed what anxiety is and how parents can help their sons—and themselves—turn occasions of anxiety into opportunities for growth. This week, we are back with Dr. Majeres to discuss attention and mindfulness.

In the episode, Dr. Majeres helps us begin to answer the following questions:

1. Although we all may know the symptoms, what really is at the heart of attentional issues?
2. What is a distraction? How does it differ from an interruption?
3. What is occurring physiologically when boys experience attentional difficulties?
4. What are ways to develop the muscles of attention?
5. What are common practices that cause attention to atrophy?
6. Is medicating a good way to approach attentional issues?
7. What is mindfulness? What are ways for younger children to practice mindfulness?
8. How does freedom relate to mindfulness?

In the end, mindfulness offers us a doorway into two aspects of freedom that are at the heart of human flourishing. Learning to attend to our work at school helps us to attend to others in society. And, in both instances, learning to attend well is a pathway to love; for what we love captures our attention — what lover does not often find his mind turning to his beloved? — and that to which we attend, we can begin to love.

If education is the turning of a mind, as we hear in the Republic, then mindfulness may well be fundamental to its success. For when one turns toward the truth, he will thereby be ready not only to recognize it but, even more, he will be prepared to fall in love with it.

Chapters

• 2:05 Introduction and Review of Episode 1
• 3:55 What is ADD and ADHD?
• 4:38 The Two Halves of Attention
• 6:28 Training the Default Mode Network
• 7:28 The Neuroscience of Attentional Difficulties
• 7:53 Theta Waves and the Muscle of Attention
• 9:05 The Three Movements of Attentional Training
• 9:55 Medication and the Gray Matter
• 11:13 Are Attentional Difficulties a Fixed Trait?
• 12:02 What Weakens the Attention
• 12:45 Video Games
• 13:25 How Music, Reading, and Work are not like Video Games
• 14:53 Passive Attention
• 15:30 Memory and Attention
• 16:35 The Importance of Imagination
• 18:01 Strengthening Attention
• 19:15 Slowing Down and Mindfulness
• 20:08 The Importance of Order and Predictability
• 22:15 Silence and Work
• 22:50 How distractions differ from Interruptions
• 26:00 Mindfulness for Young Children
• 30:18 The Golden Hour
• 31:33 Strategies for a Helping a Reluctant Boy
• 33:16 Forming the Perimeter
• 37:33 Mindfulness and Interior Freedom
• 38:50 The Freedom for Personal Bonds

Additional Resources

What is a Golden Hour? with Dr. Kevin Majeres and Sharif Younes

Back to the Basics: An Intro to OptimalWork with Dr. Kevin Majeres

OptimalWork on YouTube

Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies by Simone Weil

Also on The Forum

From Anxiety to Adventure with Dr. Kevin Majeres

Why We Need Exposure to Nature by Eric Heil

Training the Hand to Train the Mind by Robert Grieving

Three Guiding Principles for Homework by Rich Moss

Adorning our school's main hallway is a sort of charter for the Heights graduate which designates him as a man who is "optimistic toward life's challenges," as one who "sees freedom as an opportunity to choose the good." Fostering these ideals in each student is a central aspect of the school's mission. But, in a world that is increasingly filled with children suffering from anxiety, how—in very practical terms—can we help our students develop such an outlook on life?

Last month, we heard from Mr. Alex Berthé on how parents can find peace in an anxiety ridden world. This week on HeightsCast, we begin a series of discussions with Dr. Kevin Majeres, lecturer at Harvard Medical School and Founder of OptimalWork.

In this three-part series, we take a deep dive into three sets of challenges which are becoming increasingly prevalent in today's youth, and three mindsets or skills that can help us as parents and teachers to help our boys help themselves:

1. Anxiety
2. Attention
3. Addiction

Our first discussion with Dr. Majeres focuses on anxiety. Combining years of experience as a psychiatrist and drawing on research in cognitive behavioral therapy, Dr. Majeres teaches us both what anxiety is and what we can do about it.

In the episode, we learn:

1. The Foundation of Growth
   1. The importance of having a growth mindset—seeing yourself as capable of real improvement.
   2. Learning to reframe out of a fixed mindset.
2. Anxiety
   1. Anxiety is adrenaline with a negative frame.
   2. Adrenaline is a performance-enhancing hormone, which is meant to improve one's capacities, whether physical or cognitive.
   3. All anxiety disorders come from seeing anxiety as a disorder; they are the fruit of seeing the effects of adrenaline as a problem.
   4. Children's preferences are often manifestations of anxiety coupled with avoidance; it is crucial to help people from a young age to stay with a challenge and not flee from anxiety.
3. Reframing
   1. Reframing is deliberately finding the opportunity for growth in a challenge that one had previously viewed negatively.
   2. The way the body utilizes hormones depends on how we frame them; reframing is not mere wishful thinking.
   3. Start small; don't tackle the biggest challenge first.
4. Cheerfulness
   1. Cheerfulness is often synonymous with courage.
   2. The family is where we first learn to see challenges as opportunities.
   3. If parents foster a smiling approach to challenges, then even a quick thought of them can become a reframe for their children.

An essential component of The Heights School's mission is to help students discover the adventure hidden in every challenge they face. Having spoken with Dr. Majeres, we might phrase this skill as the ability to turn the adrenaline of anxiety into the adventure of everyday life.

Chapters

• 2:35 Introduction to Possible Solutions
• 3:55 A Snapshot of Mindfulness
• 5:08 A Snapshot of Addictions
• 6:45 A Quick Biography of Dr. Majeres
• 9:55 What is Anxiety?
• 13:34 Helping Young People with Anxiety
• 16:58 Parents as Savvy Exposure Therapy Coaches
• 19:12 The "A" Word: Should We Name It?
• 20:06 Safety Training
• 23:23 Reframing from a Parent's Perspective
• 25:21 What is Reframing?
• 26:28 Game Theory
• 28:13 Double Exposure, Double Mastery
• 30:01 Breaking a Fixed Mindset
• 34:18 The Importance of Being Cheerful
• 36:50 Why Not to Complain
• 38:23 Learning to See Challenges as Opportunities
• 39:10 The Importance of Role Models
• 42: 55 Reframing Parental Anxiety

Additional Resources

The Golden Hour with Dr. Kevin Majeres

Turning the Knots in Your Stomach into Bows by Jeremy Jamieson, et al.

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck

Also on The Forum

"Learn to Turn": Tom Royals on Parental Prudence

Parenting: Patience or Optimism with Andrew Reed

The Stressed Son: The Causes of Adolescent Anxiety with Alvaro de Vicente

Be the Rock: Fatherhood During Times of Crisis by Kyle Blackmer

Toughness for the Adolescent Boy by Kyle Blackmer

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells us that he has "become all things to all people," so that he might better share the blessings of the Good News with more people. To become such a man who can be for all seasons, however, one must have been educated for all seasons. A preparation of this sort is precisely what the Liberal Arts, rooted in the Western Tradition, afford those who wish to pursue them. In Cicero's own words, these arts are apt for both all seasons and all settings:

Though, even if there were no such great advantage to be reaped from [the study of literature], and if it were only pleasure that is sought from these studies, still I imagine you would consider it a most reasonable and liberal employment of the mind: for other occupations are not suited to every time, nor to every age or place; but these studies are the food of youth, the delight of old age; the ornament of prosperity, the refuge and comfort of adversity; a delight at home, and no hindrance abroad; they are companions by night, and in travel, and in the country. (Pro archia poeta, 7.16)

Today we talk to Dr. Lionel Yaceczko about all things Western: Western Civilization, the Western Tradition, Western Culture. We discuss just what we mean by "the West," and why it has become so controversial in recent years. With Dr. Yaceczko's guidance, we consider why a deep study of The West is still worth protecting and promoting, beyond nostalgia and mere academic interest.

In this week's episode, Dr. Yaceczko sets the stage by offering a high level definition of these concepts, and then arguing that there is, indeed, something worth protecting in our tradition. This is especially true if we are interested in critiquing events of our own time and of times past, because the Western tradition is the source of so many of the commonly accepted standards now used to evaluate human conduct. Important concepts such as equality under law and justice for all are born of this culture, extending roots into both Rome and Christianity, and growing in the rich soil of both Roman and non-Roman peoples alike.

We might disagree about what they mean or how we use them, but perhaps that's a good place for us to start. And, if so, let's start at the very beginning: there was Rome, the Church, the Romans, and the Gentes.

Chapters

• 2:39 Introduction
• 3:12 What do we mean by "The West"?
• 4:20 What is Paedea and in what does it consist?
• 6:46 Why should we care so much about the Western Tradition?
• 8:11 A poet on trial: Cicero's Pro archia poeta
• 16:50 A study for all ages
• 19:48 Why has the West become so controversial?
• 34:01 The most egalitarian form of elitism: Sharing the benefits we have received
• 36:27 Being just judges of the tradition: recognizing both the good and the bad
• 41:50 Righting wrongs from within: how the tradition gives us the very tools we use to critique it

Suggested Reading

The Making of Europe: An Introduction to the History of European Unity by Christopher Dawson

Pro Archia Poeta by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Also on The Forum

On Christianity and the Classical Education with Dr. Lionel Yaceczko

History the Way it Was by Bill Dardis

Defining the Liberal Arts with Dr. Matthew Mehan

Is The Heights a Classical School? with Michael Moynihan

In the opening paragraph of his Confessions, St. Augustine writes, "our hearts are restless until they rest in You." For many, the first half of this famous line is a well-known feeling; it is, in many ways, "the feeling of actual life," to put it in Hemingway's own terms. Indeed, there lives deep down a desire in all of our hearts for some mysterious reality — a green light across the bay — which seems to forever escape our grasp. Many are dreamers; fewer have found an object worthy of the greatness of their yearning.

What do we do about a situation such as this? And what, if anything, can modern literature do to help us?

This week, we sit down with Mike Ortiz to discuss one of the Upper School's new courses in the English Department. The course we discuss considers two men who, though both great American authors of the first half of the twentieth century, differed greatly in both their lifestyles and their styles of writing. The authors are the effervescent and romantic F. Scott Fitzgerald and the macho, realist Ernest Hemingway.

For all their differences, however, both men shared at least one trait: a taste for the tragedies of life. Although their styles may diverge syntactically and verbally, the substance of what they express hits the reader with an equally direct force.

In this episode, Mike helps us approach some of the darker aspects of these two men's lives and literature, seeing their works in the broader context of their lives and their lives in the broader context of our liberal arts curriculum at The Heights.

It's difficult, Mike's interlocutor reminds us, to be truly a man fully alive and not feel much pain, for to have lived fully is to have loved with a full heart; and, on this side of paradise, to have loved means to have suffered much. But, as we hear in the episode, reading and studying great authors such as these and, what is more, learning to see the tragic characters of their works in a broad context may be more than a little help in preparing our students to face the many tragic romances of a dreamer and encounter the realism of true Romance.

Chapters

• 2:17 Background to Hemingway's Good Friday
• 5:55 A New Model for English Classes
• 10:44 The Great Contrast: A Romantic and A Realist
  • 16:05 The Iceberg Theory
• 23:13 How to Read Modern Literature without Becoming a Cynic
  • 26:35 The Danger of Cynicism
  • 28:00 To Get the Feeling of Actual Life
• 30:05 From The Sun Also Rises
  • 35:04 The Loneliness and Inadequacy of Promiscuity
• 37:38 From The Great Gatsby
  • 41:14 A Dreamer without an Object
• 43:30 From My Lost City
  • 44:30 Called Back to Love: Dante and Fitzgerald
• 45:40 From Troubled Lives to Decline and Death
• 50:15 The Tragedy Behind the Tragedy

Further Reading

Today is Friday by Ernest Hemingway

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

My Lost City by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Hemingway's Brain by Andrew Farah

On Stories by C.S. Lewis

The Troubled Catholicism of Ernest Hemingway by Robert Inchausti

Also on The Forum

Hemingway's Good Friday by Mike Ortiz

Modern Literature: On Curating the Contemporary with Mike Ortiz

Exploring and Expressing the Human Condition through Literature with Mike Ortiz

Growing up is, at least in part, a process of learning to ask, and learning to answer, certain fundamental questions. These include timeless queries such as "Who am I?" and "Why am I here?" Our sons, in particular, might ask themselves, "What does it mean to be a man?" and "What is the point of my life right now, given that I'm not a man yet?"

Our boys' attempts to answer these questions, along with the answers those efforts yield, will lead them to a certain self-awareness—an identity of sorts. Ultimately, we want our boys to know themselves as they are: beloved sons of a Creator God who loves them deeply as a Father. Their lives, then, become an adventure of deepening in that awareness and of living accordingly. The earlier our lads can start down this path, the better.

In this episode, our headmaster explores:

1. How we all develop self-awareness
2. How our boys, in particular, do this, especially by means of a "persona"
3. How we, as parents, can foster a healthy persona in our sons.

As the great sage, Yogi Berra, reminds us: you've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going, because you might not get there. This advice is true enough, but we can add that if you don't get going, you never will. So, let us not be paralyzed by perfection. As we help our sons sail out of port, we can trust that with the help of good friends, good teachers, and the Good God Himself, it won't be too long before he finds himself—and, even better, gives that self away out of love for the other.

Chapters

• 2:50 Introduction
• 5:44 The Anxiety of Not Knowing Where to Go
• 9:22 Lecture Outline
• 10:15 How Your Discover Your Who Your Are
• 11:10 The Inward Way: Learning About Ourselves by Self-examination
• 16:35 The Outward Way: Learning About Ourselves by Interacting with Others
• 20:45 How a Young Man Navigates Identity Today
• 20:58 Comfort in Numbers
• 29:21 Developing a Persona
• 32:51 What Parents and Teachers Can Do to Help Boys Develop a Healthy Sense of Self
• 33:05 Identify and Guide the Persona
• 39:29 Show Boys Their Deeper Layers
• 47:52 The Power of Example
• 52:56 Conclusion: Why You Should Not Worry

Also on The Forum

Mr. Alvaro de Vicente on Moral Imagination: Part I

Mr. Alvaro de Vicente on Moral Imagination: Part II

The Issue of Identity: Who does your son think he is? By Mr. Rich Moss

As parents, we cannot help but yearn for our child's success. Obviously this is rooted in a beautiful and healthy love. But sometimes that love can give way to fear, and that fear leads to anxieties that are unhealthy, not only for us, but for our children as well. What can we do about this? How can we care deeply about our children, without worrying so much that our worrying actually begins to weigh on the little guys we're worrying about?

This week, we bring to you a recent Heights Lecture given by Mr. Alex Berthé, Licensed Clinical Social Worker and former Heights teacher/mentor. Blending clinical expertise with his own personal experiences, Alex helps us unpack the forces—rooted in love, though often expressed in fear—that are feeding our anxieties. In particular, Alex offers reflections on four key areas:

1. The importance of delighting in your children and really getting to know them, as they really are and not as you wish they were.
2. Why it is essential to put the relationship with your spouse first and to find trusted partners in parenting.
3. The need to leave behind perfectionism: good enough is enough to move our children toward the good.
4. The necessity of deepening our faith in God and respecting the freedom of our children.

Anchored in hope and optimism, Alex shares how we, as parents subject to these powerful yet often subconscious forces, can reinforce our boys' confidence in their identity as children of God through rediscovery of our own.

As we hear, wisdom in parenting often consists in learning what things to ignore. If wisdom begins in wonder, as we hear from Socrates, then perhaps our worries will end when we learn to view our children—even at their lowest points—with the wonder with which our heavenly Father views us.

Highlights

• What causes parental anxiety?
• The stages of child development and how parents respond.
• Striking the balance between demanding too much and letting too much pass by.
• Why comparisons in parenting can be detrimental.
• How much energy are you putting into achieving a particular outcome for your son?
• The importance of reframing in parenting.
• Why Charity must be our number one priority: don't cry over spilt milk.
• Wisdom in parenting is learning what to ignore.
• How our own fears and anxieties can manifest in our anxieties about our children.
• The importance of being vulnerable.
• We don't always need a solution; sometimes accompaniment is enough.
• Love the child that you actually have.
• Faith and freedom: your child is not you and you are not God.
• How parents themselves develop, even as their children do.
• What is the root of parental frustration?
• Why you should let your child make decisions for himself, even if he may err at times.
• People over papers: setting priorities straight.
• More than they show: why we must be attuned to what is occurring beneath the surface.
• Name it to tame it.

Further Reading

Compass: A Handbook on Parent Leadership by James B. Stenson

Also on The Forum

Toughness for the Adolescent Boy by Mr. Kyle Blackmer

Learn to Turn: Tom Royals on Parental Prudence

In this episode, we speak with Michael about:

1. The significance of the title: why the beyond part is crucial.
2. What "the talk" is and how parents can approach it.
3. Why his book is especially relevant in today's current culture.
4. The broader context—both historical and philosophical—for his book's insights.
5. Some key messages that his book seeks to convey.

As we hear from Michael in the episode, it is not enough to present God's plan for human love as a series of negative rules. What is needed, rather, is to form men and women who are prepared to embrace the positive adventure that love entails. We need to help our children be daring so that, when they are sent into the world, they will be prepared to live out that crusade of manliness which our world needs, and to undo the savage work of those who see man as merely a beast.

"To be happy," wrote St. Josemaria, "what you need is not an easy life but a heart which is in love." And, we might add, to have a heart in love is not the work of a single moment, but the task of a whole life. Indeed, this is the task of each day: to grow ever deeper in love.

Show Highlights

• The meaning of the title
• The talk: what it is and how to do it
• Why the beyond part is more important
• How to communicate the beauty of God's plan for the love between a man and a woman
• Why both indirect and direct means of formation are necessary
• Why it is not enough to just have the talk and then move on
• Importance of the book in today's culture.
• How this book relates to Michael's other projects
• Why a child's identity ought to be rooted in God
• On the broader context for navigating cultural trends
• What is the role of educators in these matters?
• How literature, movies, and other forms of entertainment shape our children's notion of love
• The importance of telling the love story of mom and dad
• How do you prepare kids to enter a wounded world
• Why we need to set our sights very high

Further Reading

Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier

Decisive Parenting by Michael Moynihan

The Father and His Family by Michael Moynihan

On this week's episode, we discuss technology with Mr. John Beatty, IT director at The Heights School. While in past episodes we have spoken about smartphones, social media, and other forms of digital technology, in this episode we turn our attention particularly to the use of the internet on desktop computers.

As always, our aim is not merely to put up walls and make rules, but rather to help our sons grow in freedom. Our sons are not machines to be programmed, but rather humans to be formed; and this means that their intellect and will must be engaged. In the end, we want to graduate men who are prepared to embrace all that is good in the modern world, and so it is important that they be capable of using technology well.

To this end, Mr. Beatty offers advice that is not only technical, but also human:

1. What are some overarching themes parents should keep in mind as they begin to introduce their children to technology?
   1. Computer security is not perfect; a filter is insufficient.
   2. It is important to consider the human aspects of technology use.
   3. A relationship of trust is fundamental.
   4. All things in due time; it is important to consider the age of our children.
2. What age would you begin to introduce your child to the internet?
   1. Need to see the internet as a tool, not a toy; introduce it according to need, not whim.
   2. Important to keep the computer in a public place
   3. Important to help them to use this machine, just as we do when teaching our children to drive.
   4. It can be helpful to have different accounts.
3. How would you introduce more freedom when the child reaches middle school?
   1. Use parental controls as guard rails to help them, as they grow in virtue.
   2. Teach them to use their time well.
   3. Helpful to have the default setting be more locked down and then add things as needed.
4. How do you approach the transition from middle to upper school?
   1. Remember that filters and walls will only prevent around 80% of negative content.
   2. Parents have the responsibility to be attentive to their children's computer use.
   3. As they grow, you can increase their freedom, just as one does with driving a car.
5. Is checking our child's accounts a breach of trust?
   1. It is important to build relationships outside of negative rules.
   2. Think of the internet as analogous to eating.
6. How should parents who are not technologically savvy approach these questions?
   1. Helpful to use physical metaphors.
   2. Google is your friend.
   3. Ask other parents for help!

Also on The Forum

Virtuous Use of Technology with Mr. Joe Cardenas

Digital Minimalism with Cal Newport

Computers and Technology in Education at The Heights by Michael Moynihan

When is Your Son Ready for a Smartphone with Mr. de Vicente

When is He Ready for a Smartphone with Mr. Alex Berthe

We have often heard it said that parents are the primary educators of their children. Among others, we find the seeds of this idea in Cicero, for whom nature herself has instilled a "strangely tender love" for one's children. It is likewise hinted at in Aquinas, who referred to the parental care of young children as a sort of "spiritual womb". More to the point, just over half a century ago The Church herself, in Gravissimum educationis, has reminded us of this fundamental fact: "since parents have given children their life, they are bound by the most serious obligation to educate their offspring and therefore must be recognized as the primary and principal educators." For this reason we view education as a partnership and as a co-conspiracy for the good of the boy.

In other episodes we have discussed the role of parents as educators of their children. Similarly, we have considered the school's side of the great conspiracy for the good of the boy. We are aware of our duties, of how we sometimes fall short as teachers, and of our obligation to rise and fight to the end for the good for the good of our students.

In this week's episode, we shift our focus to the role of parents and their duties towards school and community in the educational partnership. Alvaro responds to the following questions:

1. What is some general advice for parents when they enter into partnership with a school?
   1. Enter the partnership wisely; know what the school is about.
   2. Enter the partnership fully, without eroding any piece of what the school has to offer both curricularly and extracurricularly.
   3. Stay on task when your child encounters a difficulty; the goal is education, not pain-free comfort.
2. What is the general relationship between parents and their child viz. the school?
   1. The formation of the whole person
   2. Avoid advocating and over-protecting
   3. Conspire with the school for the good of the child
   4. Match the culture of school and the culture of the home.
3. What is the task of parents as co-partners with the parents of their children's friends?
   1. It is important to know the parents of your children's friends
   2. Take an interest in your son's friends not merely as a group, but as individuals.
   3. Work together with your son's friends' parents
4. What is the role of parents viz. their child's teachers?
   1. Be a matchmaker: strengthen your son's relationship with his teachers, just as his teachers should support a child's relationship with his parents
   2. Clarify with a teacher if there any question about what is happening at school
   3. Be honest with teachers, providing information that you think would facilitate his work in the formation of your child

Show Highlights

• Parents and teachers: the conspiracy for the good
• What a school can hope for from the parents in this benevolent conspiracy
• What is the general role of parents?
• What does that actually mean for parents to be primary educators?
• Parents' task with regard to their relationship with son
• Parents as co-partners with other parents
• The role of parents as partners of their son's teachers

Also on The Forum

Family Culture with Mr. Alvaro de Vicente

On Home as Social Hub with Mr. Tom Royals

Ways to Foster a Family Culture by Mr. Alvaro de Vicente

Creating a Culture of Learning in the Home by Mr. Alvaro de Vicente

Parents as Primary Educators by Mr. Michael Moynihan

"The Talk": On the Role of Schools and Fathers with Mr. Michael Moynihan

It is not on bread alone that man lives, but also on every word that he receives. And just as one's diet shapes his bodily growth, so too does one's verbal digest contribute to his interior development. Of course, not every sort of bodily growth is good; and, likewise, not every slogan that one receives is in itself spiritually salutary.

In this week's episode, Mr. Kyle Blackmer considers the ways in which phrases, lyrics, mantras, slogans—in a word, the words we hear repeatedly—shape the imagination, at times for good and, at other times, for ill.

In the context of education and parenting, it is particularly important that we attend to the ways in which these oft-repeated lines may subtly influence our children. Even more, it is crucial that we help our children think actively for themselves about what they consume; for without the engagement of one's own mind, a child remains deprived of that precious fruit, from which a liberal arts education derives its name: freedom.

Surrounding our children with words both wise and witty, not only will their minds be directed to what is true, their hearts will not be far from what is good.

Show Highlights:

• How phrases, mantras, slogans, commercials, advertising, lyrics influence our thoughts.
• From thoughts to words, words to action, and action to character
• Why we should be thoughtful about what we and our children consume
• From where do these phrases come?
• Is it all bad? The reason for hope
• How to help your child be an prudent listener
• The power of repetition
• What is the impact of these messages on boys?
• Maria Montessori and the absorbent mind
• How the young mind is particularly impressionable and why this matters
• Striking a balance between lecturing and letting it all in
• Beyond negation alone: the importance of drowning evil in an abundance of good
• How to turn slogans to the good
• We are always learning; the question is what are we learning?
• Why you should make a family motto

Also on The Forum

• Creating a Culture of Learning in the Home by Alvaro de Vicente
• Ways to Foster a Family Culture by Alvaro de Vicente
• "Learn to Turn" with Tom Royals
• Forming Your Young Son's Conscience with Colin Gleason
• Shaping Your Son's Moral Imagination with Alvaro de Vicente