They’re growing up and headed to middle school! It’s an exciting time with lots of changes.

We’re putting together a casual roundtable exclusively for parents of rising 6th graders to talk strategy for the transition to middle school, specifically when it comes to managing technology.  Homework is generally online. Kids are free to switch buses without a note, so communication home becomes important. Parents are no longer dictating their social lives organizing play dates because the kids are doing it on their own.  How do we help our kids manage it all?

Let’s taco ‘bout it.

*The chips and guac on us!  The margaritas aren’t. Food and drinks available for purchase. Taco’s highly encouraged. Event is free, but please RSVP to info@concordpromise.org so we can save you a seat!

Join Concord non-profit founders, Lara Wilson of Be Well Be Here and Adrienne Principe of Concord Promise, on a journey to discover how mindful wellness can help our children (and us) manage technology for healthier lives. Today’s technology is designed to demand our attention nearly 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. Whether your child is engaging with smartphones, social media or gaming, developing the skills necessary to keep tech in check can be challenging. The pull of technology also affects our relationships, our productivity, and our children’s abilities to study and learn. Together, we will discuss current findings in human development research (including neurobiology and psychology), and our own life experiences to understand why it’s so hard to disconnect. Lara and Adrienne will offer real strategies that you and your children can experiment with to promote healthier relationships with technology for a happier, fuller life. 

Space is limited, please RSVP by visiting Keeping Tech in Check or contact Lara at 978-203-2825 or Lara@BeWellBeHere.com

Adrienne Principe is co-founder of Concord Promise, a local organization committed to supporting parents through partnerships and education in an effort to make smartphones in middle school the exception, not the rule. She is also founder of Turning Life On (TLO). TLO, an expansion and extension of Concord Promise, seeks to unite, inform and empower community members who care about healthy technology use in Concord and beyond.

A writer, teacher and meditator for over thirty years, Lara Wilson founded Concord's non-profit mindful wellness collaborative, Be Well Be Here, where all are welcome to co-create experiential integration practices for well-being. Following an 18-month cancer journey, Lara developed and taught mindfulness curricula in both public and private schools in the northeast and south. She has worked mindfully with cancer patients, students with learning issues, young athletes, disabled individuals, architects, celebrated authors, the elderly, medical professionals, bankers, CEOs, artists and strangers willing to give practice a try. Lara holds a master's degree in English & American Literature, a Graduate Certificate in Mindfulness Studies, and certification in restorative yoga and Reiki Level II. She has studied qi gong with various instructors, including Master Yang Yang, a clinical specialist at Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Center in NYC. Lara’s experiences with integrative healing have been included in medical case studies, and were featured in an article about cancer, connection and community in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine written by a core faculty member of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine. 

Schools today use high-density mesh Wi-Fi networks which can create more intense microwave radiation exposures. This exposure to constantly-emitting microwave transmitters has scientifically documented health impacts that many parents and educators are unaware of. Learn more about what possible health risks children face when they are constantly exposed to wireless radiation throughout the day at school from mesh wireless networks.

Free admission, reservations are welcomed:

http://ow.ly/Q0LI30nRVnA

Speakers include:

• Ronald Melnick, Ph.D., Former Toxicologist of National Institute of Health (NIH), Senior Science Advisor, Environmental Health Trust

• Dr. Martha Herbert, Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School

• Dr. David O. Carpenter, Public Health Physician and Director of the Institute for Health and the Environment, a Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization

• Frank Clegg, CEO of Canadians for Safe Technology and former long-time president of Microsoft Canada

• Theodora Scarato, MSW, Executive Director, Environmental Health Trust

• Cecelia Doucette, MTPW, Technology Safety Educator

Topics to be discussed:

• Why school mesh wireless networks are especially dangerous - see actual radiation measurement from local schools

• The advice given by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for schools - does your child’s school know the facts that can protect your children?

• Studies that reveal the health risks involved with constant exposures to microwave emitting technologies including the most recent report from the US showing clear evidence of cancer

• Health risks associated with devices including damage to the brain and reproductive organs

• Common early-onset symptoms of microwave sickness including fatigue, headaches, tinnitus (ear ringing/pain), chest pain, nosebleeds, nausea, behavior issues, anxiety, depression and more

• What your school can do to protect students and staff by using technology in a safer way -- including recommendations in the manufacturers’ own fine print warnings

“Children are more vulnerable to electromagnetic fields of radiation (EMFs) so it’s important to minimize their exposures,” Wireless Education Technology Safety Educator Cecelia Doucette, MTPW, said. “We want to break down the facts and start the conversation with parents and educators in our communities to reduce our children’s exposure to this high volume of microwave radiation that’s happening right in their classrooms.”

The Meadowbrook School is sponsoring a free event for parents and educators on Monday, March 25 at 6:30pm. Featuring a panel of experts on digital literacy in children of all ages, parents and teachers are invited to come and join in the discussion. Please register and bring a friend! 

The panel includes Louisa Sullivan, Senior Community Strategist from Common Sense Education; Lynette Owens, Founder & Director of Trend Micro’s Internet Safety for Kids & Families; and Kerry Gallagher, Director of K-12 Education for ConnectSafely.

Pre-register here https://meadowbrookmaorg.finalsite.com/cf_forms/view.cfm?formID=89

Discovery Museum Speaker Series

The Simple Interactions of Everyday Helpers

Who is a helper in children’s lives? Of all the Fred Rogers’ quotes, “always look for the helpers” is perhaps the most repeated. Aside from moments of crisis and disaster, what does it mean for each of us to look for the helpers, be a helper, and help the helpers? Junlei Li will share lessons from both the Neighborhood of Make-Believe and real neighborhoods to show and tell what is deep, simple, and powerful about helpful human interactions.

Junlei Li
Saul Zaentz Senior Lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education and
former Director of the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media

This event is free, but pre-registration is required as space is limited. Cash bar provided by True West. 

Why is this relevant to technology?
One of our biggest concerns about too much tech use is how tech interferes with “deep, simple, and powerful…human interactions.” Communicating online is not the same as communicating face-to-face. When we support each other in real life, human connections are made that make us happier and healthier individuals. Technology may attempt to replace these interactions with online social networks but they cannot.

From the Center for Parents and Teachers:

Internationally renowned educator and author Kim John Payne, M.Ed will discuss how to maintain loving limits and discipline around screen-time and media; how to help our kids build good judgment so they do not become overwhelmed with media; strategies to help them navigate the peer-pressure and the status symbol of devices.   https://14march2019howtomakedevicesnotbedivisive.eventbrite.com

Free and open to all adults!