“It’s good to say nice things to people,” she said. Rosalie, another fifth-grader, said it wasn’t hard to come up with ideas. “I experienced it – home schooling and quarantine,” said Natisse, a fifth-grader. After more than a year of remote learning, the students were all too familiar with the isolation of Covid.
In crafting their advice, the students were keenly aware of the bleak backdrop: the war in Ukraine, local wildfires that have required yearly evacuations, and the seemingly endless pandemic. “So all of the responses are really coming from the kids and their own life experience, and the advice they’ve gleaned over their short years on this planet.” They encouraged the children to think of moments when they felt frustrated and they’d received good advice, or come up with something helpful on their own. And you found all kinds of ways to stay joyful,’” Martin said. “We said: ‘It’s been a very rough few years. They went to each classroom in the small school, whose 141 students range in age from kindergarten to sixth grade. So we wanted to do something really simple but profound.” “And as we all know, we’ve been going through a lot these last few years. “We wanted to do a project that was going to be simple enough to do and call on kids to think about what they wanted to say in the world, to uplift other people,” Weiss said. The project was envisioned by Jessica Martin and Asherah Weiss, who teach art at West Side Union elementary school in Healdsburg. “If you’re feeling up high and unbalanced, think of groundhogs.”Īugustin Pochan hangs his inspirational poster on a phone pole as part of the Peptoc public art project. “The world is a better place with you in it.”Īnd finally, a cognitive-behavioral approach: Other pieces of advice could save you a great deal of money on therapy: “If you’re sad or angry, go get a cookie, a smoothie or an ice cream.” “If you’re mad or frustrated, you can do what you want to do best or you can do flips on the trampoline.” “If you’re frustrated, you can always go to your bedroom, punch a pillow or cry on it and just go scream outside.” “If you’re nervous, go get your wallet and spend it on ice cream and shoes.” I won’t spoil things by revealing all their tips, but here are a few I took to heart: It was clear these students have quiet wisdom well beyond their years, as well as a true appreciation for ice cream. I was immediately transported back to the optimistic days of my youth and reminded that often life is less complicated than we make it. It took several attempts to get past the busy signal, but it was well worth it.
After reading the morning’s headlines, I tend to need all of the above, so I was eager to give it a try.