Dangers of Synthetic Marijuana and What Parents Can Do About It.

Found this recent report about the dangers of Synthetic Marijuana. The number is staggering and hard to believe, but it really shows you how dangerous synthetic marijuana can truly be. Take a look at the link below and discuss the information with your own kids. Hard to imagine that their is a more dangerous form of marijuana, but it looks like synthetic marijuana is that form.

 11,000 go the hospital for synthetic marijuana click here



Now that you have read up on the dangers of synthetic marijuana, now take a look at this recent study/article that shows that parents actually have more influence than schools' own drug education. Seems like a no-brainer, but I am glad to see a research study show that parents can actually steer their own children towards a drug-free life. But the key is open communication. Take a look at the article to learn more.

Parents have Biggest Effect on Kid's Drug Use click here

The Peace Agreement is unveiled at Hartford Upper Elementary!

The fourth and fifth grade students at Hartford Upper Elementary have written a Peace Agreement.   This is our anti-bullying campaign to promote peace and respect in our building.    The students have also made posters exhibiting the different aspects of peace which are important to them.    If you visit Hartford Upper Elementary you will see all the 'PEACE' displayed. :)

Peace Agreement:

We say NO to drugs.

We appreciate freedom.

We appreciate diversity.

We smile.

We stand up for each other.

We let people be themselves.

We don’t laugh at other’s mistakes.

We encourage people.

We treat people with respect.

We help others.

We are the people of Hartford Upper Elementary.

Parents Information Site About Teens, Technology, and the Online World

I came across this website hunting for a technology video and after looking around I realized that it is a pretty good resource for parents. I did not look at everything on the site, but I thought the videos had lots of good topics and were pretty straight forward. Very informative for a parent who may not know what exactly their child is doing with technology or why they are doing it. Then, there is a blog attached to the site where general interest stories are posted. The site really wants to connect teens with parents and bridge the technology gap between the two. Also has some information on bullying and cyberbullying, which is always great! Please click on the two links below, the parts of the website I liked the most!

Teach Parents Technology! (TPT): Videos to teach parents about the technology their teens are using. Click here!

Home page for the parent portion of the website. Great articles and videos here too. Click here!


Website is called A Platform for Good.Org

A Short Video Showing How Small Our Little Earth Actually Is

Not really sure this has much to do with counseling or school, but I just felt I had to post it. Very cool video and really makes you think how small we truly are in our vast universe. I am sure there is a counseling theme in there somewhere, but if not, I hope you simply enjoy this video.

Middle School Kids and Smartphones, a Recent Survey

Catching up on my blog reading, I came across a recent national survey questioning middle schoolers and their cell phone, or more specificially, smart phone use in and outside of school. Personally, I am noticing more and more students pulling out cell phones after the school day is done and more and more of these phones are smart phones. Even my own 8th graders have told me they sometimes complete my email assignments on their phones. We currently do not allow cell phone use in school and during the school day, but I know some middle schools do. With data like this in this survey, smart phone use in schools will only continue to be debated as to whether it should be allowed or not. Please see the survey at the link below.

Middle School Smart Phone Use survey

Mr. Barry Attends Governor's Bully Summit!

  Mr. Barry had the opportunity to attend and be a panelist at this past week's Governor's Bullying Prevention Summit here in Des Moines. It was a great event with a sold out crowd of 1200, nearly half of them students wanting to make a difference. Mr. Barry representing school counselors of Iowa on the Cyberbullying panel. All of the panels and keynote presentations were recorded and broadcast live online. They will soon be posted so anyone can view them at anytime. When this happens, I will post the links so you can see the great information that I got to see when I was there. 

   Biggest thing I learned from the conference was that the problem of bullying is a large and complex problem that will take efforts from everyone to solve it. Not just teachers, but students, parents, community members, everyone. And most of the experts who spoke and even the student experts who spoke, agreed that the group that can have the biggest effect are the students. Solutions to bullying created by and led by the students have the best chance to solve the problem of bullying. In fact, many students from schools all over the state produced videos showing their ideas and these ideas were some of the best ideas I have seen in my years as a counselor. Seeing these student videos and seeing all of the students in attendance at the Summit gives me great hope that we will finally turn the tide with bullying and begin to solve the issue and make all of our schools safe again.

Great Article Explaining the Difference Between "Rude", "Mean" and "Bullying"

  Another counselor sent this article to me this weekend and after reading it, I figured I would post it here as I think it is a pretty good explanation of the differences between kids being rude and mean and kids who are actually bullying. Bullying is a nasty, nasty thing that some kids do. But it does not happen as much as media sometimes portrays it. Knowing the definition of bullying and being able to identify it is one of the first and most important steps in stopping the problem of bullying inside and outside of schools. Please give this article a quick read.

Rude, Mean, and Bullying....the Difference click here!