Rebecca Rolland's Blog

Welcome to my weekly newsletter, "Talk Tips!" In the newsletter below, I talk through how to discuss tough experiences with kids--and why they truly need us to do so. I hope you enjoy it and would love to hear from you.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/talk-t...

As a mom, speech pathologist, and Harvard lecturer, I've heard so many kids struggling with the language needed to resolve conflicts effectively and not lose friends. We often think lecturing will support them, but really, open-ended questions and prompts can be far more effective. This weekly newsletter is designed to explore strategies that help. See more here, and subscribe if you're interested:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/talk-t...

Subscription link: eepurl.com/hQnyxz

I hope you find this helpful! And please reach out to me at contact@rebeccarolland.com with your stories, questions, or thoughts. I'm all ears.

How my daughter became a swim coach in a day, and other lessons in self-empowerment

Hi! Welcome to my blog. I'm excited to share the first edition of my weekly "Talk Tips" newsletter. This edition's all about #confidence: how small language shifts can empower kids, and even occasionally teach each other something. By uncovering children's hidden strengths and highlighting them, we can boost confidence in a grounded way, helping kids feel more like leaders, and able to offer useful skills.

You can sign up at: http://eepurl.com/hQnyxz

I'd love to hear your feedback as I develop further editions of this newsletter.

At some level, I found this a richly braided, escapist read, taking us to Ancient Greece from multiple perspectives, and asking deep questions about the role of the imagination. But I also found the authorial tone oddly similar to All the Light We Cannot See, with a few tics that kept pushing me out of the story. For example, a tendency to skip over time: "Fourth grade. Fifth grade" and to press personal details of a life up immediately against historical ones ("the Korean War"). There is a tendency to dive into a child's perspective, and then to move out to reflect in ways that are entirely adult. In a way, everything is described with similar objectivity, which makes it hard to connect deeply with the characters. Thus, I recommend it--for its fabulous language and thinking--but with reservations.



View all my reviews