Keeping Current

It was such a pleasure to see so many of you at conferences last week. our children benefit from the close relationships we build as together we forge strong beginnings for their school careers.

After the staff planning Monday, we were most fortunate to host Dr. Rene. Many of you have had the pleasure of attending one of her seminars and we highly recommend that you do so. Her topic was "Stress, Resiliency, and Over-Scheduling," very pertinent topics, especially in this busy Northern Virginia area.

Something Rene stresses in every single seminar is the value of reading aloud to children - daily for at least 20 minutes. One teacher asked at what age would you stop doing that-and her surprising answer was "just about never." Rene's daughters are well into their teens and she still reads to them-not nightly, but whenever possible in their busy schedules. The titles change, but the feeling of closeness and sharing never does.

Discussing interesting book together as a family opens lines of communication that otherwise might go unexplored and fosters mutual respect for ideas and emotions. Added bonus, it is a great stress reducer as well!