Kim and I are on a quest to find blogs that we deem to be "Adultitis Antidotes." What exactly IS an Adultitis Antidote, you ask? Well, when it comes to the blogosphere, an Adultitis Antidote is a blog exhibiting a childlike spirit that helps counteract the effects of Adultitis by using honesty, curiosity, passion and playfulness to encourage its readers to delight in the little things, dream big, and stress less. We're currently on the hunt to find the best of the best when it comes to dealing with Adultitis. As of this post, we've already announced a few winners. …
Adultitis
No More Negativity
Continuing my “Beyond the Elementary" series (helping adults move out of childish behaviors, to live more childlike lives with less stress and more success), here's lesson #4... 4. No More Negativity Have you ever met a kid who makes a big deal out of nothing all of the time? This is the kid who gets a papercut and cries uncontrollably until the entire class has seen and heard about it. This is also the kid who interrupts a Dr. Seuss story to tattle on someone- again! There are many reasons why this child insists on being a "handful." Often it's a cry for help, a way to get attention, …
Laugh Louder
Fun is contagious. The other day I was reading Everyday Mommy, a very fun and insightful blog by Jules. She posted a hilarious picture of herself which caught my attention. Jules does not take herself too seriously, and I love it! She was proactively fighting her Adultitis by playing with Photo Booth. For those of you not familiar with this software, basically it works with the iSight camera that is build into the screen of the MacBooks and functions just like a photo booth would, giving you a few seconds before it snaps the picture. But wait. There's more... …
Escaping Adulthood in Australia
Sam and Soph from Sydney are two of the latest people from around the world up for the Escape Plan Challenge. They're fed up with Adultitis, and are posting the details of their adventure on their blog, The Fountainside. The Escape Plan is fun, and it's made even funner (I know, "more fun," but "funner" is funner!) when couples and friends tackle it together. As of this writing, they're almost a quarter of the way through. So far, they've added some art to their fridge, enjoyed a mud mask, wrote down some big dreams, determined that Soph's mouth can hold only 56.52173913% of the total …
Celebrate More
To continue my series helping adults move “Beyond the Elementary,” in order to overcome stress and acheive success, here's lesson #3. 3. Celebrate more Are you a party animal? Apparently the students at UW Madison are and have earned the award of America's #1 party school (we're so proud). As Jason jokes, the folks handing out these awards have obviously not spent much time in a kindergarten classroom lately. Five and six-year-olds know how to celebrate! …
5 Ways to Prevent a Stressful School Year
There is something about the new school year which brings a healthy balance of anxiety and optimism for both kids and parents. This year will be even better than last year. There are still many unknowns and things out of your control, but overall a fresh start is always a good thing. With this hope in mind I have five things you can do to prevent a stressful school year. 1. Do not over schedule yourselves. 2. Do not over schedule yourselves. 3. Do not over schedule yourselves. 4. Do not over schedule yourselves. 5. Do not over schedule yourselves. The reality for most kids between …
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Eeyore or Tigger?
As I sat typing on Daisy, my Mac, waiting for the car to get some fresh oil, I couldn't help but smile to myself at the psychology lesson that was unfolding right before my eyes. Folks were coming in to drop off their cars for everything from oil changes to big money repairs. To say that "attitude is everything" at the mechanics is an understatement. First a thirty-something woman came in, very Eeyore-like. Although she wasn't elderly, she sure seemed to be moving at a pace that would get her some significant discounts at Arby's. Her presence was gloomy and grey, just like America's …
Yep, Tag is Way Too Dangerous
Ok, this topic is coming up so often, I've now deemed it an official category of this blog: Adults Are Ruining Everything. Not to be content with suffering the effects of Adultitis in their own life, we have an epidemic of stupid people trying to spread it to everyone. Childhood as we knew it is in danger. If this keeps up, an outbreak of Juvenile Adultitis is on the horizon. Curt Rosengren of Motto Magazine points us to an article about an elementary school that has banned...tag. …
Own Your Feelings
As I mentioned last week, I am compiling a list of lessons to help adults move "Beyond the Elementary," in order to overcome stress and acheive success. Lesson #1 was "Smile and say hello." Now for lesson #2. 2. Own your feelings One of the social emotional development curricula I was required to use while teaching focused on "I feel" statements. The lessons required students to look at photos of people showing exaggerated emotions. After they identified the emotions I would model the language, such as "Tommy feels sad because his dog is lost." Eventually, after lots of practice …
A Cheap Way to Fight Office Adultitis
I have never worked in a cubicle (I'm not counting my nightmares), but I have worked in quite a few jobs in which I swear the hands on the time clock were engineered to go backwards every few hours. Fortunately, those jobs were stepping stones for me; catalysts that would inspire me to never slip into a career that bored me. So far, so good. If you're stuck in a job that started out as a stepping stone but has morphed into a well-worn rut, you may want to take a long hard look at your life. Seriously, follow those last three links and read up. For those of you perfectly content sticking …