Plus, new teachers’ tricks to help kids; pet in chief; the glow-in-the-dark platypus; putting the thanks in Thanksgiving
|  | Sunday, November 15, 2020 | | | | |
 | PHOTOGRAPH BY DIGITALSKILLET, GETTY IMAGES
| | By Rachel Buchholz, KIDS AND FAMILY Editor in Chief
The past couple of weeks have been a bit, well, tense. And though we won’t all agree on who should be president, we can likely agree on one thing: The country’s current mood cannot be good for children.
Experts will tell you that kids pick up on their parents’ anxieties, and their young minds are quite literal when it comes to takeaways of emotional conversations. Elections can certainly add to that stress. (A friend’s child became extremely upset after believing the family would be literally moving to Canada if one candidate won.)
In fact, researchers from the University of Michigan discovered that young people polled reported being emotionally affected by the 2016 election (86 percent pre-election, 71 percent post). With combative conversations and intense divisiveness still fresh, the 2020 election seems likely to intensify those feelings in our youth.
Parents know that it’s a struggle to shield children from the bad behavior that comes with any election season. But perhaps we can combat any fraught takeaways with advice we’ve been given since we were children ourselves: Just be nice.
The election noise might have drowned out the fact that last week was World Kindness Week, but we can still allow the goodness to spill over. Practicing kindness, after all, is healthy for kids. According to the Mayo Clinic, being nice can decrease blood pressure and the stress hormone cortisol, as well as release endorphins, the body’s natural painkiller.
Even during a pandemic, kids are finding ways to practice kindness: writing notes to first responders and educators, or leaving surprise “gifts” (like painted rocks) to unsuspecting neighbors. (Let us know how your little ones are being kind to one another.) These acts are particularly important now, since experts agree that kindness connects us during times of extreme isolation and can also help people heal.
“Kindness is what gets our families healthy, our country healthy,” says Richard Weissbourd, faculty director of Making Caring Common at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, in this article about how kids can practice kindness. “It’s how we live together so we’re constructive and joyful. If we don’t take care of each other, we won’t survive.” (Here’s a children’s book that can help: A World Together, by Sonia Manzano, Sesame Street’s “Maria.”)
So even though there might be a few people I don’t feel like being nice to right now, I’m going to give it a go. No one’s going to get angry over a little kindness—and I know that children are watching.
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| | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY NICHOLAS TOWSON, EASTERN MIDDLE SCHOOL | | Teachers for the win. Educators have been on the front lines of this at-home learning experience from the beginning, facing never-before-imagined challenges and obstacles that no one really knew how to overcome. But they’re on it. In this article about creative solutions teachers have come up with—from green screens to in-the-field remote teaching (above, middle school teacher Nicholas Towson demonstrates how to use a green screen to students)—parents can read about how their children’s instructors are doing everything they can do make sure that students thrive.
Pet in chief. Hail to … Major the German shepherd! Come January 20, he’ll become the first shelter dog to live in the White House. One of two German shepherds in President-elect Joe Biden’s family, Major’s likely to support platform paw-licies such as universal dog treats and is looking forward to the Inaugural Ball—as long as he can fetch it. For more kid-friendly silliness, check out this article on other presidential pets. For more lame dog jokes, are 40 enough?
We asked, you responded. After this past intense week, parents responded to the question “What are your children passionate about?” with answers that spanned the political spectrum, from endangered animals to religious freedom to gun safety. Tolerance, friendship, and treating others as you’d want to be treated were other big hits. To paraphrase one mom, it feels hopeful to know that—nowadays especially—kids are staying positive and working for a bright future.
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 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY ERIC AUDRAS, AGE FOTOSTOCK | |
Winter is coming. But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. With fewer places to go, kids have been spending more time inside since the pandemic started—and that’s expected to increase as winter blusters in. But getting children outdoors is important for their health: Sunlight stimulates the pineal gland, which helps regulate sleep patterns (something we all need more of now), and outdoor activity can release feel-good endorphins in the brain. These ideas will help parents get reluctant kids out of the house—though a hot-chocolate bribe might help.
A glow-in-the dark platypus? We’ve just discovered that the egg-laying mammal with the duck-like bill has a superpower: It glows a brilliant blue-green under a blacklight. (See it!) The platypus is not the first animal we know that can do that—flying squirrels turn pink. Nat Geo’s Douglas Main finds out that some animals can see a more extensive spectrum of light than we can.
Family discussion: Not getting together with the family for Thanksgiving? Do you have ideas on creating things to get past a Zoom call and make it fun? (Let us know!) Even science reporter Carl Zimmer, covering the pandemic, says he took guff from his family when he rejected the three-hour holiday drive to the gramps. Note: Some grandparents have “given permission” to their kids and grandkids to skip the in-person celebrations this year (but just this year).
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| TRY THIS: BOREDOM BUSTERS FOR KIDS | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY ERLAND HAARBERG, NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY | |
Because you might need it … Despite the week/month/year families have had, the world can still be a pretty awesome place. Remind everyone of that with photos of adorable animals (above, a group of arctic fox pups), strange nature (like a blue hole in the middle of the ocean), and—because World Toilet Day is Thursday—some wacky commodes. Then get some giggles with the hilarious video series Animal LOL, in which wild critters have a lot of funny things to “say.”
Meet real-life geographers! Kids can celebrate Geography Awareness Week by attending Nat Geo Education’s Explorer Classroom, a live event for students to engage with real scientists. This week, kids can interact with Lydia Gibson, who’s mapping uncharted rainforests in Jamaica, and Alex Tait, who mapped Mount Everest, Earth’s tallest peak! Get the scoop and register here. And check out the many ways the dear departed Alex Trebek worked, away from his day job, to help kids learn geography.
This newsletter was edited and curated by David Beard and Rachel Buchholz, and Kimberly Pecoraro and Gretchen Ortega helped produce it. Have a healthy and a sane (as possible) week ahead!
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