Aug

Back-to-School Transition: As Easy as ABC?

by Janine Boylan on August 26, 2013

Teens during the back-to-school transition

Rushing back to class
© Thinkstock

Parent + Student = Different Perspectives

Children and parents around the country are preparing for the grand upheaval known as back to school.

While children shudder as the careless summer evaporates, a collective parental sigh of relief greets the dawning of a regular school schedule.

Students preparing to go back to school will face:

the elation of finally seeing friends again
the misery of making sack lunches
the challenge of getting supplies organized
and the ultimate struggle: getting up early.

How do their perspectives on the above compare to their parents’?

Friends

One student declared, “What I love about school is that I get to see my friends and enjoy every day with them. I haven’t seen them all summer!”

Her parent’s perspective was a little different. “Seems like there was a lot of seeing friends this summer. Sure, it was online through Instagram, Vine, Twitter, and Facebook, but they were connected.”

Kids, who talk with friends over the summer, have an easier back-to-school transition. (Image © Janine Boylan)

The ever-present electronic device
© Janine Boylan

The facts: Teens are very connected. A 2013 Pew Research Center report notes:

95% of teens use the internet
81% of those online teens use some kind of social media (SM)
77% of online teens use Facebook; 24% of online teens use Twitter
the typical teen Facebook user has 300 friends
42% of teen SM users visit their sites multiple times per day

How will this translate to school?

Cal State Dominguez Hills professor Dr. Larry D. Rosen shares that those students who check their SM once every fifteen minutes, not surprisingly, will be negatively affected by the distraction.

But, he says, research shows that social media helps shy students to become more outgoing. And SM can provide tools to engage students in learning.

School Lunches

Another student laments, “I don’t like having to make my lunch every day. It’s boring to have the same thing over and over.”

Her parent shrugs, “How fun can a sandwich be?”

Confused sandwich, illustrating different perspectives of the back-to-school transition. (Image © Mark Northeast/Funky Lunch)

Confused
© Mark Northeast/Funky Lunch

Spider sandwich, illustrating different perspectives on the back-to-school transition. (Image © Mark Northeast/Funky Lunch)

Spider
© Mark Northeast/Funky Lunch

Inspiration: Mark Northeast found that his son Oscar was bored by his lunches, too. Northeast decided to do something about it, and the first Funky Lunch was born.

Of course, it helps that Northeast has the creative ability to look at a slice of ham, some bread, and a cucumber and see a comical cartoon.

He says the sandwiches take him 10–15 minutes to make. Might take the rest of us a bit longer.

Piano sandwich, illustrating different perspectives on the back-to-school transition. (Image © Mark Northeast/Funky Lunch)

Piano
© Mark Northeast/Funky Lunch

Getting Organized

A student admits, “Organization is not really my thing. That’s what’s so hard about school—getting my stuff together.”

The parental response: “You’ve got that right. By Thanksgiving, I’ll be afraid to look in your backpack.”

Stuffed backpack, an object of different perspectives during the back to school transition. (Image © Janine Boylan)

Back-to-school stuffing
© Janine Boylan

Some expert ideas: Psychology professor, Dr. Nancy Darling emphasizes that parents should focus on the process and logistics of homework rather than just the content. Parents should encourage students to:

organize school work in a single place, like an accordion folder, so assignments don’t get left in a locker.
use an assignment book. Students should write down work on the day it is assigned. If the task isn’t completed in one day, they should rewrite it in their assignment books on the next day and so on until it is done.
put a bright colored sticky note or paperclip on work that is due so they don’t forget to turn it in. No one gets credit for work left in a backpack.

Waking Up

“Summer is great because you don’t have to do anything, and you can get up any time you want,” a student shares. “But I’m still fine with getting up and going to school every morning. That doesn’t affect me that much.”

The parent’s perspective: “Last year, I had to go into his room five times every morning just to try to get him up. I guess it didn’t affect him. It affected me!”

Extreme solution: Look into building this bed. (Fast forward to about 47 seconds.)

If the video does not display, watch it here.

A Matter of Perspective

Parents and their children may have some different perspectives on going back to school, but—Oh, I see—the funniest thing about being a parent is that you were once the child.

Sure, parents are a little taller and perhaps a little more organized than their student-selves, but back-to-school time is exciting for everyone—it’s exciting to see friends, it’s exciting to be back on a regular schedule, and it’s exciting to learn new skills like organizing.

Here’s to another great school year!

See how another creative dad made some inspired school lunches.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Janine Boylan Comments

Secrets to Life

Aug

“Missed Connections” Offer Alluring Life Lessons

by Meredith Mullins on August 22, 2013

Four strangers on a train, ripe for missed connections and life lessons about seizing the moment

Missed Connection on the Red Line
© Digital Vision/Darrin Klimek

Carpe Diem: Seize the Moment . . . or Not

Our eyes met several times today on the A train. You have blond hair and were wearing a black jacket. When you got off at 5th, you looked at me through the window and smiled. Would love to see you again.

I never do this but . . . we saw each other on the Red Line today. You’re tall (like me) and have the bluest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. It was hard to stop sneaking a peek at you. You got off at Market Street. Figured it’d be worth a shot to post this.

You were at the Springsteen concert last night (Row S) sitting next to me. The girl you were with started out next to me, but then you switched seats (thank you). If you see this and would like to chat, reply back and we can go from there.

In this fast-paced world of devices, headphones, and anonymity, human interactions are sometimes elusive.

Woman looking a man with newspaper, a missed connection or a life lesson about carpe diem

The elusiveness of human interaction
© Brand X Pictures

Although we bury ourselves in our smartphones and work routines, most of us do have an innate desire for connection. And, if we’re single, we may be actively searching.

Dating sites and matchmaking services have solid audiences—with tales of success, frustration, and failure. But another path is gaining momentum.

Missed Connections

Missed Connections are the moments when spontaneous smiles, magnetic eye contact, or shared experiences trigger an attraction . . . but the players in the drama don’t complete the connection. Shyness. Intervening events. Bad timing. Whatever the cause, the story is left unfinished.

Clerk smiles at customer, a life lesson moment that could turn into a missed connection or carpe diem

A magnetic moment
© Purestock

Then, the lament—the what if’s and coulda/woulda/shoulda’s—and the freedom of imagination to create romantic dreams, the kind that fuel film scripts with happy endings.

Now, these lost moments can be “advertised” so that a next chapter becomes a possibility.

It all began when Craigslist launched its “Missed Connections” section where people could post their story and have a second chance at getting to know that mysterious stranger.

The idea has spread to newspapers, magazines, and online forums. It’s a booming business and also one of those sources of entertainment where hours (or days) can be lost before you know it.

Four strangers standing in a subway, ripe for missed connections or the life lesson of carpe diem

Public transit is a popular place for “missed connections.”
© Getty Images/Jupiterimages

Psychology Today has even analyzed the patterns of missed connections. Californians seem to miss their connections at the gym. In the northeast and south, Walmarts, supermarkets, and public transit are rife with near misses.

And, oddly, in Indiana, missed connections happen mostly “at home.” (Turns out this isn’t a judgment on family life, but rather a tribute to the pizza delivery person, the appliance repairman, or the neighbor.)

Four seated train passengers, life lessons about missed connections or carpe diem

A Venue for Dreamers . . . and Writers

While the success rate of star-crossed strangers’ meeting again is low, Missed Connections forums have become a place of dreams and, as it turns out, also a springboard for budding fiction writers and poets.

Yes, emerging writers can still submit to the New Yorker, Ploughshares, and Paris Review, in the hope of getting attention. But they can also post on Missed Connections to test the waters.

The stories expand the boundaries of truth. Plot lines twist and turn, and characters come alive. Readers can get a taste of Harlequin romance and action thrillers for free.

We were sitting together waiting for the bus, but not really waiting (come to think of it). Actually, we just had decided to sit down somewhere and this bench was catching the mid-afternoon sunlight nicely. I looked at you and said “I don’t see myself ever breaking up with you.” You smiled.

—Quote from Redeye Chicago Missed Connections

We chatted briefly while I waited for the teller to fill my bag with money. You waved goodbye with a big smile while I ran out to a waiting car. I wanted to get your name but did not have the time. You . . . tall . . . great face . . . nice hands (I noticed when you raised them) . . . cute smile. Me, a little nervous, wearing a mask, toting a gun and a bag full of money. If you see this, and I hope you will, tell me what bank I was robbing (so I know it is you).
P.S. No FBI or local police.

—Quote from Craigslist Missed Connections

Your image is forever etched on my soul/It’s like I knew you before that moment/But it’s too late now/You got off at Lake/You looked back at me and smiled/like you felt it all too/but both of us too shy to make a move/Now you’re lost to me/The memory is all that remains.

—Quote from Redeye Chicago Missed Connections

Life Lessons

Missed Connections can be wistful or hopeful. The posts can wax poetic or be downright pornographic (an unfortunate recent trend). Underlying emotions can channel regret or offer the optimism of a second chance.

Aside from pure entertainment and good reading as new talent in the fiction genre emerges, Missed Connections do offer a life lesson.

Couple smiles at chance meeting in supermarket, a life lesson about carpe diem.

Oh, I see. It may be better to seize the moment and make the connection when the opportunity is within reach rather than leaving the next chapter to fate.

Carpe Diem. What have you got to lose?

For more immersion in Missed Connections, read the recently posted Craigslist short story—being touted as the ultimate missed connection and see Sophie Blackall’s unique illustrations of missed connections.

Quotes VIA Craigslist and Redeye Chicago.

Comment on this post below or share your story of a missed connection—fact or fiction. Inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins Comments

Life Lessons