February Newsball 2019
Playing catch-Up with the Life is Good Playmakers
With Valentine’s day still fresh in my mind (I even bought my wife roses from CVS this year), now seems like as good a time as ever to write a little something about making love. As a matter of fact, I just got back from making love at a local deli, and if all goes according to plan, I’ll be making love all day long.
Uncomfortable yet?
Please don’t be. I’m not talking about “making love,” in the romantic sense. I’m talking about making love in the purest, most literal sense.
In his book, The Fisher Kind and the Handless Maiden, Robert Johnson writes: “Sanskrit has 96 words for love; ancient Persian has 80, Greek three, and English only one.” This suggests that we Americans have a somewhat limited understanding of the vastness of love and the many ways that we can spread it throughout the world.
Maitri – the Sanskrit term for motherly love – is said to be the most giving and least selfish form of love. Imagine being able to express the kind of tender, unconditional love that a mother has for her child with everyone – including yourself.
Maitri love is not an emotion. It is a commitment. A commitment to act in a way that supports the wellbeing of all living things. Changing a diaper, giving up your seat to a stranger on a bus, holding a door open for the person behind you, listening with interest to another’s opinion, walking your dog, checking in on a sick friend, picking up a piece of trash left on the street are all acts of love.
Making love all day long is just about taking time each day to share the simplest acts kindness with those close to you and with those whom you don’t even know. If you haven’t tried making love all day long, I urge you to give it a go. You’ll be happier and healthier for it. I promise.
So how exactly did I make love to my server at the deli? You’ll have to ask him yourself. I never kiss and tell ;0)
Love & Peace,
Steve Gross, MSW
Chief Playmaker, LiGP
GOOD PROGRESS
Our Work in the Field
Two-Day Playmaker Public Retreat
The first weekend in November marked our fourth and final two-day Playmaker retreat for teachers, nurses, social workers, and other childcare providers working directly with kids who’ve suffered trauma. These two-day offerings, hosted at the Life is Good Playmakers Boston headquarters, provide the opportunity for frontline care providers to discover our signature approach, including effective environment setting and relationship building for both the kids they serve and the teams they serve with.
Playmaker Impact Study
Since, 2011, the LiGP program has remained deeply connected to our partners in Newtown, Connecticut and the treatment of widespread PTSD. This ongoing work connected us to Dr. Anka Roberto, a Newtown parent and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner who specializes in the care of traumatized children, their families and community. Dr. Roberto recently brought our work and stories of impact to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington where she currently teaches. Now, Roberto and her colleague, Josalin Hunter-Jones, PhD, MSW, MPH, are leading a multi-disciplinary team across nursing and education to measure the lasting impact of the LiGP program and our unique support and investment in childcare professionals. For our pilot study, we have partnered with a therapeutic school and day treatment center in southeastern North Carolina that serves kids facing significant adversity.
Meet Dr. Anka Roberto, the researcher behind the LiGKF’s Playmaker Impact Research
Making Lemonade
Later this spring, Laura Colker & Derry Koralek, two very well-respected leaders in the field of early childhood education, will release their book titled Making Lemonade, which focuses on teaching optimism to young children. Our Chief Playmaker, Steve Gross, was asked by Colker & Koralek, to open the book with a forward on our unique approach to teaching optimism through the LiGP program. You can order an advanced copy of Making Lemonade: Teaching Young Children to Think Optimistically with Steve’s forward through the link below!
GOOD GROWTH
Our Work to Raise Support
Berkshire Bank
Each year Life is Good runs an annual Kids T-Shirt Art Contest to hear (and see) from our youngest optimists why they believe that: Life is Good. Thousands of kiddos submit original designs depicting the people, places, and things that bring them more joy, gratitude, love, and optimism. Ultimately, five winners are selected by the leaders of Life is Good and the LiGP, and the winning designs are transformed into limited-edition Life is Good tees. 100% of the profits from these tees support the work of the Playmakers, and thanks to this year’s scholarship sponsor, Berkshire Bank, the contest will also result in a $25,000 additional donation to the LiGP signature program, which helps more than 1 million kids every year overcome the traumas associated with poverty, violence, and illness. The contest officially opens this April, so keep an eye out! Thank you, Berkshire Bank!
Boston Software Matching Grant
For the third-year in a row our loyal supporters at Boston Software have offered a $5,000 Small Business Big Impact Matching Grant to support our Boston Marathon campaign. This year, Playmaker, Chelsey Munsey will be running those 26.2 miles to support the LiGP and our unique approach to treating early childhood trauma. Right now, every gift up to $5,000, given through Chelsey’s Marathon page will be matched dollar-for-dollar by Boston Software! Read more about the story behind Chelsey’s bib and have your gift in any amount go twice as far thanks with this dollar-for-dollar match from Boston Software!
Play Fore Playmakers
It’s official! Monday, July 29th we tee off at Sterling National Country Club in central Massachusetts for the 7th Annual Play Fore Playmakers Charity Golf Tournament. Thanks to our returning presenting sponsor, Dave Fisher and James Monroe Wire & Cable, we’re in a great position to go big with our most impactful fundraising goal to date: $150,000. Help spread the power of optimism to kids who need it most and have a fun day out all at the same time!
GOOD PEOPLE
Our Playmakers
Playmaker Spotlight- Ellen M. Drolette
By: Ellen M. Drolette, teacher, author, and Life is Good Playmaker
A few weeks ago, I had three adults come visit me, all of whom I taught at my child care program 17 or more years ago. All of their photographs still remain on the walls either in my child care center or my home.
I opened Sunshine Daydream Child Care in Burlington, Vermont, 25 years ago. During those first few years, I’d say that I was in real risk of closing down before I ever really got going.
I was the mom of two really young children (a two-year-old and an eight-week-old) and I couldn’t find any affordable childcare options that I thought really understood the social-emotional needs of children in their first eight years of life. So, I opened up my own child care business, and then very quickly understood that even as a mom, I didn’t really understand the social-emotional needs of those in their first critical eight years of life.
I started researching how to attain those skills. I enrolled in early education classes, went through a national accreditation process, and studied the impacts of stress on children’s developing brains and on the overall health and wellbeing of childcare professionals. Through my quest for improved skills and the steady enrollment of kiddos in my family child care program, I came upon one steadfast and guiding realization:
Relationships matter most.
In fact, they may be ALL that matter.
And not just the relationships with the tiny humans I care for, but the relationships with other professionals who do what I do, too.
Much like the founders of the Life is Good Company, I’ve worked for very few people except for myself at Sunshine Daydream Child Care. So, I’m not totally clear on how it works in other fields, but I can tell you, that for those of us who dedicate our lives to education – and especially early education– we’re often lonely, overlooked, and undervalued.
In those early years of childcare, when we’re teaching our kiddos to make eye contact, to hold hands, to sing and soothe…when we’re delivering them critical pieces of education that make it possible for more learning and thriving to click down the road, our work and focus is far too often reduced by others as just, “baby-sitting.”
(As a side note, there’s actually very little sitting involved in early education.)
Right now, across the country we’re seeing 30% staff turnover in early childhood settings, and a significant part of why I never ended up a part of that statistic (and why I’m so passionate to help turn it around) is my participation in the Life is Good Kids Foundation’s Playmaker Program.
The transformative takeaways I continue to draw from my time at Playmaker retreats and ongoing connections to this ever-growing community of early childhood professionals, continually helps fill my cup…which is the only way I could possibly have enough to fill those belonging to the hundreds of kids I’ve connected with (and stayed connected to) throughout my career.
The Playmaker Program and the Playmaker Community reinforce and strengthen my steadfast belief in the power of responsive, loving relationships. In addition to giving me practical tools and a guiding philosophy on how to continue fostering life-changing and affirming relationships with every single kiddo who comes through my program, the Playmaker (let’s call it Movement) has also given me a platform and the inspiration to keep building professional and personal relationships with leaders across the fields of early childhood education.
Typically, the children I care for are only with me for a few (too) short years…but when they come back to visit after elementary graduation, and high school graduation, and college graduation, I’m always reminded of the lasting, positive differences we get to make as early childhood educators…and how grateful I am for the Playmakers who keep playing a critical role in goodifying my 25-years in a career where I truly do what I love and love what I do.
Thank you, Ellen for sharing your story. In addition to being a longtime Life is Good Playmaker, Ellen is also the author of Overcoming Teacher Burnout in Early Childhood, has served on the board of the National Association of Family Care, and in 2016 was named a master leader by the Exchange Magazine.
GOT NEWS?
If you have news about a program, fundraiser, or event in support of The LiGP, let us know. We love hearing from you!
