SuperGramma

One of my granddaughters is in her third year at the Ontario College of Art. During 3rd year, if your marks and portfolio are very good, you have the option of taking your year at their campus in Italy. Of course she said yes and is having the time of her life.

Only problem is that she usually works two jobs as well as going to school to pay her way and in Italy she can’t work. So this donation button is for Michelle and if you contribute you’re supporting a young lady who one day may be a renowned artist. (Although I think she wants to teach and inspire young people.)

Grandaughter Michelle

This is Michelle on the left with her mother (my daughter). She is an amazing girl and as well as being gifted in art, is a terrific writer. If you don’t believe me, she blogs about Italy at The Adventures of Captain Defiance Drake (she’s a major Star Trek fan) Her future may very well be teaching high school art and English.

Technorati Tags: Ontario College of Art, studying art in Italy, art student

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It’s amazing how much a child can accomplish when others believe in him. In fact, that can probably be said for most of us. When others see the best in us, it helps our self-worth, no matter what our age.

I found an encouraging video that I wanted to share with you. But it’s no longer available on youtube. Anyway, this ten-year-old young man stood up in front of thousands of educators to tell them that if they believe in him, he can achieve anything. And that in many cases, his teachers might be the only ones who do believe in him.

Let’s all take this young man’s words to heart and help our young people, grandkids or not, to be all that God meant for them to be.

Technorati Tags: believing, motivating, encouraging

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When my husband was a boy, he often heard the words “be careful”. I’m afraid I was the same way with my boys. But my daughter encourages my grandson to try new things and doesn’t hinder him with her fearful thoughts. As a result, he is very outgoing and comfortable in new situations – many of which could be intimidating.

Case in point – we all went to visit the Canadian National Exhibition recently. One of the activities was a pizza making workshop. There were about thirty kids involved, as well as parents and grandparents taking pictures of them. Grandson held up his hand to answer questions and participated with the others, even though at four years old, he was one of the youngest involved.

I was really impressed with his self-confidence and ability to interact with everyone.  He is one child who won’t have any trouble starting kindergarten this month. Now if I can just remember to encourage his pursuits, rather than instilling a fear of the unknown. How about your grandkids?  How do you help with their self esteem?

Technorati Tags: children and self confidence, confident grandkids

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It seems the media is finally taking note that a number of us in the last half of our lives (boy does that phrase make me feel old)  enjoy life-long learning.

The front page of our local paper highlighted a man close to 90 who is graduating with his PhD. He says the young students continue reading…

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Since we’re all getting a little older and want to be wiser, we need to keep training our brain. Every day we should try to learn one new thing. Doesn’t have to be anything big, even a new word (Scrabble players take note). Then we need to remember what we learned. That’s the hard part, right? continue reading…

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