Lifted, By My Girls! — The Archives — Formerly Vented Uplift

  When my son was two, he bit another child in his daycare room. He went on to do it six more times in a few weeks, and I was horrified.   I sought the counsel of our pediatrician. He was old and wise and usually knew how to make me feel better. I told him I was scared there was something wrong with my child. What would make him do this?   I couldn't sleep, and no amount of reassurance from his daycare teacher that this was "normal" helped. I hoped my pediatrician could offer something of use. He confirmed everything the daycare teacher had already shared: why my son might be biting and why he would likely soon stop. But none of those made me feel any less alone.   I talked about how much I worried about the other mother--The one that has to pick up her kid and find out he was bitten AGAIN. Then he said the one thing that made me feel a teeny tiny bit better: "Mrs. Lennon. I've been doing this for a very long time. Biting happens, and it will stop. Tha...

  One of my favorite quotes comes from a simple children’s book. In Dr. Suess’ “The Lorax,” he says, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” This quote runs in my head as a constant life theme. I have a bit of a “save the world” complex, but as my students love to remind me, “Miss, the world is broken. There’s nothing we can do.” YIKES! That sounds pretty despairing.  Then I go back to  The Lorax  quote; if we all felt the world was beyond saving, it would be. Minor changes, little effort, and even the smallest steps are still going in the right direction. So, I am here to tell you how one average lady from Brooklyn is attempting to save the world.  In 2011 I had an idea to start a social fundraising initiative called  The Hero’s Benefit,  or THB as I so lovingly refer to it.  THB  was meant to be a response to the Extortion 17 crash, which killed 31 American Service Members and left 32 chi...