Personal Best Parent Update
...by Donald F. Gately Ed.D.
December 11, 2019 Volume VII No. 7
Book Talk: January 27 - The Positive Dog
I’ve been given the opportunity to facilitate a book talk as part of the PTA Council - Open Meeting - January 27 (930am, MS Library). We’ve chosen the book, The Positive Dog by Jon Gordon. It’s an awesome little book that you could read in just under an hour actually, but it presents many powerful reminders of the importance of positivity as well as practical strategies to strengthen this attribute in our own lives. Here is a video of Gordon talking about the book.
One of the elements of Gordon’s action plan, “Turn complaints into solutions”reminds me of a Twitter challenge that I have periodically tried unsuccessfully to do: try to go 24 hours without complaining. Because I’m a New Yorker, I don’t know if this is even possible. For people raised here, complaining is like breathing out, I’m not sure we can survive without it. I have a friend from Boston who visited me once and remarked that New York is the only place where, while driving, people will honk their car horns at you if you fail to honk your horn at a slow car in front of you. Complaining is the currency of conversation in New York, and this reaches an apotheosis amongst Long Islanders (having been raised in Brooklyn I won’t attempt to parse out the difference in this respect between Nassau and Kings counties; as my daughter in fourth grade recently discovered, “Did you know, Dad, that Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island are all on the same island?”). Nevertheless, Gordon, makes the point that complaining clearly contributes to stress which depletes the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin and accelerates aging. My eyes glaze over when I read content specific vocabulary about brain chemistry, but I certainly don’t want to age any faster; so I’m going to give it another try. I invite you to do the same; try to go 24 hours without complaining. Ask me how my experiment went! Maybe we can start a movement.
Consider reading the book. Heading into the winter break, it’s a great reminder of how we can change our own lives and the lives of those around us by being positive.
Resources
Can we break up with busy? Watch this short video… so useful at this BUSY time of year!
So many ways to follow #JerichoMS
Jericho Middle School
Email: dgately@jerichoschools.org
Website: Jerichoschools.org
Location: 99 Old Cedar Swamp Road, Jericho, NY, United States
Phone: (516) 203-2600
Twitter: @JerichoMS