The way you can measure a society's soul is by the way that it treats its children.
Nelson Mandela

Issue No. 51 - 31st January 2008

Welcome back after the Christmas break.  I trust that you are all refreshed and ready for a new year.

Welcome to Kidz Newz especially to all new subscribers.  Kidz Newz is a regular newsletter with information and teaching tips for anyone involved with young children.  You are receiving this because you have attended one of my workshops, purchased a book, or you have requested to be on the mailing list.  Thank you.  Please forward this to anyone you feel it may be of interest to.

Feedback is welcome.

The Christmas Letter

In issue 31 of Kidz Newz - 'Happy New Year' dated 25^th January 2007, I recommended to you all that you write a Christmas Letter as though 2007 had already happened. You were to write it as though you were sending a letter to all your friends and family to include with your Christmas card, as many people do. In other words you were to project yourself into the future and imagine all the wonderful things that had happened to you during the year, all your achievements, all your hopes and dreams come true. It's a reverse of New Year's Resolutions, which most people forget about a few days after making them because it all seems too hard and unachievable. By projecting yourself into the future you are able to feel the joy and elation of achievement. When you immerse yourself in these emotions you have a greater chance of success because you can picture yourself having achieved whatever your particular goal is and how you would feel in that moment. When you can picture yourself and let your imagination run riot, you have a good chance of drawing yourself towards that image.  If you have seen the movie 'The Secret' by Rhonda Byrne you will have had this explained more fully.

So, how did you go? I wonder how many of you actually put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. I did and I have just reviewed what I wrote. The results were very surprising. Most of what I had predicted or wished for did actually come true, more or less as desired. Most notable is the publication of the Kidz-Fiz-Biz Multicultural book. Interestingly, I had predicted getting a children's picture book published but that hasn't come to pass ' yet. But then I haven't been eagerly sending off the manuscripts to publishers on a regular basis. You can't expect things to happen without action. Desire is then just wishful thinking. What did happen though is that my contribution to an e-book was accepted by Children's Book Insider magazine in the USA. This is inspiration and advice for aspiring children's authors from published children's authors. (Apart from my Kidz-Fiz-Biz books I have had several articles, poems and short stories for children published.) You have to be open to opportunities along the way as they present themselves. The success with this e-book is a case in point.

What was really astonishing with my letter was what I had written about significant others in my life. None of what I thought would happen actually happened. What I learnt from this is that you can't wish things for other people. They have to really want it for themselves. You can only want for yourself, and then go out and make it happen. See yourself in the picture of achievement and keep working towards it and feel the feelings associated with success. That's why having your goals on a wall in front of you helps. If something is a burning passion though, you don't need a visual reminder.

I would be really interested to hear whether any of you did this exercise and what your results were. If you didn't, I recommend you do so right now, in preparation for 31^st December 2008. Click on www.kidzfizbiz.com/kfbmail/index.html  to remind you what issue 31 said. Have a great year!

For Aspiring Children's Writers

If you are interested in writing for children, I recommend you subscribe to The Children's Book Insider newsletter.  Published in the USA, it is part of the Write4Kids website and provides information for writers.  They have just published an e-book 'I wish someone had told me that!' in which experienced authors were asked to write on these specific topics in order to inspire and give advice to aspiring children's writers:

When I started, I wish someone had told me ...                                                                        The best advice I ever got was ...                                                                                           The biggest mistake I ever made was ...                                                                                 The most important thing a writer can do to achieve success is ...                                                I really need to tell you this ...

This is the book I contributed to. 

To purchase a copy of this e-book, click on this link http://write4kids.com/wishbook.html

Three men were sitting together bragging about how they had given their new wives duties.

Terry had married a woman from America, and bragged that he had told his wife she needed to do all the dishes and housework. He said that it took a couple days but on the third day he came home to a clean house and the dishes were all washed and put away.

Jimmie had married a woman from Canada. He bragged that he had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes, and the cooking.  He told them that the first day he didn't see any results, but the next day it was better. By the third day, his house was clean, the dishes were done, and he had a huge dinner on the table.

The third man had married a Welsh girl. He boasted that he told her that her duties were to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, laundry and ironing twice a week, lawns mowed, windows cleaned and hot meals on the table for every meal.  He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything, but by the third day most of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye, just enough to fix himself a bite to eat, load the dishwasher, and call a handyman.

God Bless Welsh Women  

Jurien Bay PD 2007

'Very useful for Early Childhood as well as ESL/ESD.' Dorothy O'Reilly

'It's very interesting.'  Dennice Clark

'Songs/activities enabled full participation.  Can't wait to share them with my children.'   Naomi Peddie

'[I learnt] Strategies to use LOTE and music with your everyday learning for both yourself and students.'  Jacqueline Doore