A friend of mine, a teacher from New York, I went to high school with, sent this to me. It makes me very glad that I live in a civilized area. But for those of us who don’t, or for those of us who must travel into uncivilized areas, here are some important tips to take into consideration:

Crucial
Because of recent abductions in daylight hours, refresh yourself of these things to doin an emergency situation…. This is for you, and for you to share with your wife, your children, everyone you know.

1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do : The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do!

2.. Learned this from a tourist guide. If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you…. Chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!

3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy.. The driver won’t see you, but everybody else will.
This has saved lives.

4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit
(doing their chequebook, or making a list, etc. DON’T DO THIS!) The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR , LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE..

If someone is in the car with a gun to your head DO NOT DRIVE OFF, Repeat: DO NOT DRIVE OFF! Instead gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car. Your Air Bag will save you. If the person is in the back seat they will get the worst of it . As soon as the car crashes
bail out and run. It is better than having them find your body in a remote location.

5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage:

A.) Be aware: look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side floor, and in the back seat

B.) If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars.

C.) Look at the car parked on the driver’s side of your vehicle, and the passenger side… If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)

6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. Stairwells are horrible places to be alone
and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!)

7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; and even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN, Preferably in a zig -zag pattern!

8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP It may get you raped, or killed.
Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played
on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often
asked ‘for help’ into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim.

9. Another Safety Point:
Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last,
and she called the police because it was late and she thought it was weird.. The police told her
‘Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door..’ The lady then said that it sounded like the baby
had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, ‘We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.’ He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby’s cry recorded and uses it to coax
women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby’s cries outside their doors when they’re home alone at night.

10. Water scam!
If you wake up in the middleof the night to hear all your taps outside running or what you think is aburst pipe, DO NOT GO OUT TO INVESTIGATE! These people turn on all your outside taps full ball so that you will go out to investigate and then attack.

Stay alert, keep safe, and look out for your neighbors! Please pass this information on.
The the Crying Baby Theory was mentioned on America ‘s Most Wanted when they profiled
the serial killer in Louisiana.

Every year when a new group of children assemble, there is always the worry that a child simply won’t fit into the school. Most children do, but some don’t. So for the first month, teachers work with each of the students, both in a group and individually to decide what each student actually knows and to experience each child’s behavior. Getting to know every child is the first step in being able to determine whether his time at the Garden School will suit him, and the other children. This is always a busy time.

One of the determinants is family life. Children from solid family homes do better than children who are pushed and shoved from place to place without a bed of their own. Children who are an afterthought to their parents often find it difficult to relate to the steadiness of a routine, meal times, and the idea that what they do matters. These children are often lost from the beginning.

Parents who discipline their children will find the Garden School on their same wavelength, and then school becomes an extension of home. When parents refuse to discipline their children, refuse to guide their children in strong values and making the right choices, children again are lost at the Garden School.

Brain power has little to do with our willingness to include a new child at school. In the past we have had children who have been tested and have scored far below acceptable mental standards for regular classes. When they graduated from the Garden School they went to regular public school classes. So tests don’t impress us. We are much more likely to make our own judgments and find a breakthrough scheme of teaching than rote public school with too many children.

Disorders like attention deficit, hyperactivity, bi-polar, processing problems, and other so called difficulties don’t phase us either. I would rather have a hyperactive child who is loved than a neglected child who is not – any day. You can train any loved child; you can’t train a child who is neglected because a child who is neglected is looking for something they will never find – affection from the parent – and they will search for this first and often furiously, and everything else will be unimportant.

And speaking of brain power, proud parents often bring a new child to school saying, “Oh, he knows his letters and can count to 20!” We smile and nod, and then we go find out. Mostly, a child will be able to say a reasonable rendition of the alphabet song and will be able to say a string of numbers missing many and climb his way to maybe twenty. What parents don’t know is if a child says, “one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, ten, eleven, twelve, fifteen,” he can count to eight. With numbers, it’s not about kind of or sort of, it’s about getting it right.

But getting it right is for us to do. That’s what we get paid for, but teaching is only one of the things that must be accomplished before a child is ready to learn. Play is one of those things and typically, most children who come to school really don’t know how to play unless they have older siblings. As an example, a child will pick out a toy he likes and then carry it around the school. This is play, it’s first stage building. It is what a child should do at eighteen months, not three, four or five.

Some children will gravitate towards the toy that seems to attract the largest crowd, and then find a single piece and protect that piece until it’s time to put everything away. They would rather sit with a piece of unused toy than find something they actually know how to use and really play with it. This is the ultimate time waster and the beginning of peer pressure. We discourage this whole hog.

Another scheme is to take two unrelated toys and beat them together. This is a one year old game. I often say, “If you can’t think of something better to do with that dinosaur and that cat, I will.” Often the remark flies over the child’s head like geese.

The next regression is for one child to become a two year old and roll around on the floor. This is of course a safety learned in toddlerdom. It takes not a single brain cell to accomplish. This, of course, is not acceptable play for a five year old.

It takes about three months for all the children to find toys to really play with, and set play schemes that work, and here is where the caring loving parent comes in. A good parent talks with their child about the child’s day. This is what makes teaching so much easier. These are the children who grace the Garden School.

One of the play schemes teachers teach is how to build for a purpose. Some children will love this and others will not be able to find the reason for putting blocks on one another. Building is math and logic, and it’s also order and discipline. Your best builders will be your best math students. Without building, a child loses the sense of being able to accomplish a dream with his hands. Children deprived of blocks will always have life issues with building his life an most of what is in it. All children should have blocks and be encouraged to use them with their dolls as well as their other toys. One of the great toddler toys is the can shelf in the closet. A two year old should be allowed to stack all the cans in the kitchen because this is a great start to his math skills.

The next social issue is training the children to sit with criss cross legs with hands in laps. This pose helps children keep hands and feet to themselves. This is the first attempt at teaching personal space in a group. Children think it’s great fun to fall on one another, sit on one another, put their hands on one another, and if allowed, most children will “wallow” with one another on the floor. Integrity of body or one’s own space keeps children from distracting themselves or others while they are learning to listen.

Listening is the first and most important thing a child will learn in preschool. Learning to listen and then listening to learn is the name of the preschool experience. Some children will do this from the beginning, and some will never learn how to listen. Again, it depends on family. People who talk to one another and listen to the responses, will have children for whom listening is second nature. Parents who never talk to their child will have a child who lives most of his life in la la land.

You can’t teach a child to listen. You can either draw in a child in or fail trying. It’s really that simple. Children are not used to being corralled to think about something as a group. So what a teacher says has to be interesting enough that all the children are willing to let go and turn to a teacher and listen well enough to answer questions. Some teachers can take a group, keep them interested in just about anything for just about any length of time, and some can’t. It’s learned and it involves knowing your audience and having a real repertoire and a plan and a scheme.

But no matter the lesson, the teacher, or the group, every child is different and needs different approaches to learning. Not all children will learn at the same rate, or the same way, or the same things the same day. Some children will learn when music is applied. Some will learn through categorization, through art, nature, and a host of other formats. The key is to find that one path in to where the child is, and use it every day if possible, and that is something we find out.

Between home and school, there should be few gaps. A child is loved, respected, and cared for at home and ditto at school. Those are the children who grace our school.