Out & About: Barbara Coloroso!

“Sure kids rebel: It's part of that process called
growing up. Just knowing that doesn't make
parenting easier, but knowing Barbara Coloroso
might." - The St. Paul Pioneer Press



Hearing Barabara Coloroso speak about parenting made me feel just that: that parenting my child(ren) could be easier, better and more fulfilling. It was the kind of inspiration that kept me up half the night on Tuesday, replaying her words, over and over......

And to think, I almost didn't get a ticket! I called the minute I heard she was coming to Kingston. I couldn't believe my luck?! Just four weeks earlier, I had purchased her book "Kids are Worth it!" in a moment of crisis with my (almost) two year old. Her words comforted me and put me at ease, changed my approach to parenting, and my view of my role as a mother...and she was coming here! I was sooo excited! But, alas, when I called for tickets they were gone! All of them! Thankfully, I ran into a friend at a playgroup that week who, just happened to mention, that she had an extra ticket!

I am so utterly grateful I was able to hear Ms. Coloroso speak. Though the topic was "The Bully, The Bullied and The Bystander" geared at educators and administrators, it became clear early on that the cycle of violence in our schools and our society is first and foremost, a parenting issue.



Her thoughts on violence and parenting techniques affirmed my belief in the importance of developing empathy and emotional intelligence in our children. She enforced and re-enforced the need to foster an inner sense of moral value and ethics if we are to hope for the success of our children.

I've always believed that reading and writing and math will inevitably be learned by my children but that my role, as their mother and human example, is to teach them compassion, caring and understanding. Working with college-aged adults, I have seen time and time again that intelligence can only get you so far. My most successful students are smart, sure, but more importantly they have high emotional intelligence: the ability to pick up on social cues, relate to other human beings, and understand their own feelings.

A Quote Barabara Colorose Read in her Lecture:
"Dear teachers, I am the survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness—gas chambers built by learned engineers, children poisoned by educated physicians, infants killed by trained nurses, women and babies shot and burned by high school and college students. So I am suspicious of education.

My request is: help your students become humane. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns. Reading, writing, arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more humane".

And so, my goal as a parent has been established yet again: to raise deeply caring, empathetic and morally-driven human beings. Children who are not capable of de-humanizing another, are not afraid to stand up for what is right and are not capable of looking the other way when there is someone in need.

Have a Great Weekend!