David LePere, Executive Director, CCBS

Cherokee Creek Boys School continues to recommend limiting screen time for all children in your home – and to collect all the smartphones, tablets and laptops each night so kids are not tempted to use them when they should be sleeping. Most children don’t have the ability to self-regulate when it comes to electronic media, so it’s up to us parents!

All my best,

David

From Richard Louv’s website, Children & Nature Network, November 7, 2013:
The American Academy of Pediatricians issues tougher guidelines for kids’ media use.

In a statement published October 28 in the journal Pediatrics, the AAP, linking excessive media use to a host of health problems, including obesity, recommended that kids should have no TVs or Internet access in their bedrooms, that parents should adopt “family media use plans” that also ban electronic media during mealtimes and after, and reiterated that children should be limited to less than two hours of entertainment-based screen time per day.

In addition, the AAP urged that children younger than 2 should have no TV or Internet exposure. (Tell that to the companies that are pushing to put electronics in the hands of children in every preschool and daycare facility.) The statement pointed out that the average 8-year-old spends eight hours a day using various forms of media, and teenagers often surpass 11 hours of media consumption daily.

To the AAP’s credit, it does not demonize technology — and does point to some of tech’s educational benefits. It cites a report released on Oct. 28 by Common Sense Media Research, which offered the good news first. Use of “traditional” screen media (TVs, video games, computers) has fallen by more than half an hour a day.

Then came the other news: Almost twice as many children have used mobile media compared to two years ago, and the average amount of time children spend using mobile devices has tripled!

The Purpose of Boys - Michael Gurian

Several families who attended our latest Family Seminar were interested in what we considered as some of the most recommended books to read on the subject of parenting and mentoring boys. All of the books on this list have taught us how to better teach our middle school boys. Every staff at Cherokee Creek will have their favorites, but three books in particular that really captured my attention and spoke to me were: The Purpose of Boys, Boundaries with Kids,and Wild at Heart.

Here is our recommended reading list in alphabetical order according to the author’s last name:

Beausay, Bill. Teenage Boys! Surviving and Enjoying These Extraordinary Years. 1998

Brozo, William. To Be a Boy, To Be a Reader: Engaging Teen and Preteen Boys in Active Literacy.2002

Cloud, Henry & John Townsend. Boundaries With Kids. 1998

Dobson, James. Bringing Up Boys: Practical Advice and Encouragement for those Shaping the Next Generation of Men. 2001

Eldredge, J. You Have What It Takes: What Every Father Needs to Know. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc. 2004.

Eldredge, J. Wild At Heart. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc. 2002.

Gurian, Michael. The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons from Falling Behind in School and Life. 2005

Gurian, Michael. The Good Son: Shaping the Moral Development of Our Boys and Young Men. 1999

Gurian, Michael. (1999). From Boys to Men: All About Adolescence and You. New York: Price Stearn Sloan.

Gurian, M. with Trueman, T. (2000). What Stories Does My Son Need?. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam.

Gurian, M. (2009). The Purpose of Boys. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Gurian, M. & Stevens, K. (2005). The Minds of Boys. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

James, Abigail Norfleet. Teaching the Male Brain. 2007

Last Child in the Woods - Richard Louv

Kimmel, Michael. Manhoodin America: A Cultural History. 2006

Kindlon, Dan and Thompson, Michael. Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys. 1999

Mosatche, Harriet and Unger, Karen. Too Old for This, Too Young for That! Your Survival guide of the Middle-School Years. 2000

Louv, R. (2005). Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books.

Muharrar, Aisha. More Than a Label. 2002

Pollack, W. (1998). RealBoys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood. New York: Henry Holt and Company.

Schaffer, Susan and Gordon, Linda. Why Boys Don’t Talk and Why It Matters. 2005

Slocumb, Paul D. Hear Our Cry, Boys in Crisis. 2004

Strauch, Barbara. The Primal Teen: What the New Discoveries About the Teenage Brain Tell Us About Our Kids. 2003

Stone, Richard. (1996) The Healing Art of Storytelling. New York: Hyperion.

Tatum, Alfred.  Teaching Leadership to Black Adolescent Males. 2005

Thompson, Michael.  Speaking of Boys: Answers to the Most-Asked Questions about Raising Sons. 2000

Thompson, M. & Barker, T. (2008). It’s A Boy! Understanding Your Son’s Development from Birth to Age 18.New York: Random House.

Tobin, L. (1991). What Do You Do With A Child Like This? Inside the Lives of Troubled Children.Whole Person Associates: Duluth, MN.

If you would recommend other books that you have read that are not on this list, please let us know. The staff at Cherokee Creek Boys School is in perpetual learning mode!

Happy Learning!

You can hardly walk on Cherokee Creek’s campus without a greeting from a four-legged friend lately. The number of dogs loyally following their owners to work has increased and, along with that fact, the number of boys happily throwing sticks and playing chase!

There are many research studies pointing to increased happiness when pets are available for petting, play, or just listening. Our dogs have been welcomed in therapy sessions, formal and informal. In short, there are so many wonderful reasons to have them around (to learn more about the therapeutic value of pets, please see http://www.helpguide.org/life/pets.htm).

We dedicate the anonymously written fable below to our CCBS “co-therapists” Lily, Mable, Moses, Yoshi, Bella, Callie, Dirt Dog,and Big Dog. Thank you for being you!

Fable – God Summoned The Beast From the Field (Author Unknown)

God summoned the beast from the field and He said
“Behold, man is created in my image. Therefore adore him.
You shall protect him in the wilderness,
shepherd his flocks, watch over his children,
accompany him wherever he may go…
even into civilization.
You shall be his companion, his ally, his slave.”

“To do these things,” God said, “I endow you with the
instincts uncommon to other beasts:
Faithfulness, Devotion and Understanding
surpassing those of man himself.
Lest it impair your courage,
you shall never foresee your death.
Lest it impair your loyalty,
you shall be blind to the faults of man.
Lest it impair your understanding,
you are denied the power of words.
Speak to your master only with your mind
and through your honest eyes.”

“Walk by his side; sleep in his doorway;
ward off his enemies; carry his burden;
share his afflictions; love and comfort him.
And in return for this,
Man will fulfill your needs and wants…
which shall be only food, shelter and affection.”

“So be silent and be a friend to man.
Guide him through the perils along the way
to this land I have promised him.
This shall be your destiny and your immortality.”

So spoke the Lord.
And the dog heard, and was content.