By Sarah Vander Schaaff I am not sure if a song can inoculate a child from the bad feelings and dangers of being bullied, but if one could provide fortification, or resistance, then it might be “Bully, Bully” by Shine and the Moonbeams. The tune was recorded a few years ago, but it was just…
By Sarah Vander Schaaff I wonder how many readers remember their first day of high school. I don’t think about that day often, but when I cleared away a few summer distractions, my memory of it came back. Yes, I know exactly what I wore. My priorities as a fourteen-year-old were a bit out of…
The documentary film, “Race to Nowhere” is described on the film’s website as, “Featuring the heartbreaking stories of students across the country who have been pushed to the brink by over-scheduling, over-testing and the relentless pressure to achieve…” It was nearly three years ago that the film came to the Princeton-area community, thanks in large…
By Sarah Vander Schaaff This summer, we’re going to focus on some specific questions parents might have about development and, well, life. Sometimes we’ll turn to some experts for advice, and sometimes we’ll turn to you—experts in your own right. We start with a question on many of our minds as the schedule of the…
By Sarah Vander Schaaff The most troubling thing about the story in last week’s New York Times, “New Disney Characters Make it Big in TV’s Preschool Playground“, was not that Disney Jr.’s “Sofia the First” is leaving Nick Jr.’s “Dora the Explorer” in the ratings dust. That contest, between the down-to-earth explorer in a pair…
By Sarah Vander Schaaff As parents, we often talk about peer pressure, but how often to we talk about the effects of pluralistic ignorance? It doesn’t roll off the tongue, does it? But, it’s worth knowing about and perhaps even adding to our conversations. I didn’t know anything about pluralistic ignorance until I heard an…
By Sarah Vander Schaaff Eight years ago, when I first started teaching drama at a small private high school, I introduced a routine I learned from my own high school drama teacher back in Austin, Texas decades before. Before class, or a rehearsal, you ask your group to lie down. If the class is being…
By Sarah Vander Schaaff I didn’t go to Harvard, so I don’t often spend my afternoons perusing Harvard Magazine, but it’s sometimes nice to have a friend or colleague share the news of her esteemed alumni publication. In this case, it was a story “Investigating Academic Misconduct” that caught my interest. We’d all heard some…
By Sarah Vander Schaaff Several weeks ago, well before Sandy and the holidays took over our thoughts and conversations here in New Jersey, I attended an evening lecture given by Sam Wang, an associate professor of molecular biology and neuroscience at Princeton University and co-author of the 2011 book, Welcome to Your Child’s Brain: How…