We are all hanging on to some positive expectation for the future, that vital notion that we have a future worth working toward. Yet, life and world events deliver a steady stream of evidence to the contrary: vacuous morals, competing sorrows, and fatiguing compassion embedded in a depressing global economy. Regardless of our age, we are striving for independence, social competence, a sense of purpose, and the capacity to be functional, as we work toward a future worth embracing.
So how do we as adults, working with children, help prepare them for the 21st century with all its flaws? How do we find the courage to name our own deeply held hopes and help children discover hope as an antidote to fear?
An exciting new book, Nurturing Hopeful Souls: Practices and Activities for Working with Children and Youth, helps do that. The creation of educational specialist Lenora M. LeMay, this inspirational and practical resource, aligns itself with the bountiful research on hope and resiliency. Hope motivates. It provides the framework necessary for kids to bounce back from life's problems. It holds the power to transform lives; for children and for those who work with them.
Nurturing Hopeful Souls is not a curriculum, a list of activities, nor a program; it is a way of "being" in the world. It is a way of “being” with children. Nurturing Hopeful Souls is a wake-up call for all of us who work with children and youth about how powerful our interactions are.
Not just what we say, but who we are and what are actions relay. How do we express our own hope? Can children see hope in our actions and in our relationships with them? Are we really working with them to build personal futures and futures for their communities that are sustainable, enduring, and important?
Not just what we say, but who we are and what are actions relay. How do we express our own hope? Can children see hope in our actions and in our relationships with them? Are we really working with them to build personal futures and futures for their communities that are sustainable, enduring, and important?
The book offers practical and well-tested activities, not in a “how-to” format but with the direction needed to begin intentionally practicing hope with children and youth. While all of the activities discussed in this book will engage youth in new ways of looking at the world and their lives, the section on community service learning may be its most inspired innovation.
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Nurturing Hopeful Souls costs $34.00 plus shipping. Contact Lenora for more details on how you can access this resource and other opportunities.
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