When the father in the following video received a rejection letter from an academic journal, he walked in his house feeling, well, rejected. For those of you unfamiliar with the feeling of receiving a rejection letter in your profession, you can liken the experience to sending a, "Will you go with me? Yes, No, or Maybe" letter to the love of your life and he/she sending the letter back with a giant red X in the "No" box. Not fun.

However, on this day, as the father walked into his house feeling rejected, he tore the letter in front of his child. In the face of rejection, he was reminded of the things that really matter in the world.

Ways to See Beautiful:

• Children's inability to take this world so seriously.
• Children's ability to find beauty and laughter in paper being torn.
• Readjusting our focus to the truly beautiful things in life.

Interesting Finding: Some scholars claim children laugh an average of 300 times per day, while adults laugh an average of 30 times per day. Perhaps we can channel our inner child and giggle as often as possible-even rejection can be beautiful.

Let's go on a quick virtual field trip, that also includes time travel (so, happy Monday to you)...
Scene Setting: It's 2002, in a try-to-be-clean-but-can-never-stay-ahead-of-the-dry-playdough-and-finger-paint-on-walls pre-school classroom. Twenty-one three and four-year-olds are sitting in a circle (a shape they know), singing the "Good Morning" song. 

The second-year teacher is beaming with pride at the successful sitting and coordinated singing of all twenty-one students at 7:45 a.m. She finishes the song, off harmony, with the students, because in her mind, "Who are we kidding, we're all off harmony!"

Teacher (pointing to the words, "Today is Monday" written in perfect "teacher script"): Good Morning! I can't wait to hear all about the wonderful things you did over the weekend, but before we do, let's see if we know which day of the week today is.

Teacher, looking expectantly and happily around her morning circle. Children, looking at teacher, each other, the fish they've dubbed "Seven" for no apparent reason, the blocks, the carpet. No response.

Teacher (in energetic expression): Okay, let's see what is written on the board. Oh, this says, 'Today is Monday.'

While teacher's back is turned to the board she hears a gasp that sounds like sheer jubilation. By the time she's turned around, one of her most brilliant (though they're all brilliant) students has jumped into the middle of the circle.

Child (trying frantically to rip her pants off): OH! OH! OH! TEACHER!!!!!! MY UNDERWEAR SAYS MONDAY!!!!

At this point, child has pants down revealing that indeed, her underwear does have the word "Monday" sewn into them, the teacher is frantically leaping across other three-year-old heads to get to the child mid-circle.

Teacher (thinking): Oh, dear. Oh, dear. OH DEAR! I'm going to lose my job! There's a child smack dab in the middle of my morning circle with her pants around her ankles!!!!

Teacher (still trying to get to student...crawling on the floor now): You are exactly right! Now, I need you to pull your pants up.

Child (looking confused): But...but...I matched it. They are the same.

At this point child has pulled her pants up in a defeated-looking manner. Simultaneously the teachers' heart begins to beat again. 

Teacher: I am so proud of you! That was excellent noticing and thinking! Why don't you go sit back down with your friends and we'll see what else we can learn today.

Teacher thinking: Is 7:45 a.m. too early to have a glass of wine?
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We here at See Beautiful can't help but look at the word "Monday" now with a chuckle. If you thought today was going to be your typical ole Monday, you don't know who might be waiting around the corner to catch you off guard.

For this teacher, the "Monday" experience is still the best text-to-text connection she's seen a child (or adult) make in her ten years of teaching.

For you, what "Monday" experience could you have to connect your mind to seeing beautiful? It's unlikely that it's matching your underwear to the day of the week, but that example let's you know there's laughter lurking in the most unlikely places. If we take a moment to look for beauty in ourselves or the world, we often find it...or it finds us.

Happy seeing beautiful!
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Also be sure to check us out on our See Beautiful™ website for ways to join the movement!

Brilliantly written by one of the most inspiring educators, theorist and curriculum developers, Loris Malaguzzi of Reggio Emilia, it honors the beautiful and many languages of children and ways we can honor them:

The Hundred Languages of Children​

No way.
The hundred is there.
The child is made of one hundred.
The child has a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.
a hundred, always a hundred
ways of listening
of marveling, of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds to discover
a hundred worlds to invent
a hundred worlds to dream.
The child has a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
They tell the child to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and Christmas.
They tell the child
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.
They tell the child
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.
And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says
“No way – The hundred is there.”
​
What hundred ways can you see beautiful in the actions of a child today? It's a wonderful task to set about doing.

The following video was featured on viewchange.org, a non-profit that highlights stories of hope and progress. In this video, Bharati Phaked Date, a 14-year-old girl, explains how a bike is her gateway to making change in the world.


To watch the short Pedal=Sight Video click here.


For many people around the world, a bicycle is a toy or vehicle to take you from one place to another. For the ultimate protagonist of her own world-changing story, Bharati's bike represents her ability to change the world. Those two wheels represent hope, empowerment, and change and they carry the mind and heart of a girl committed to seeing beautiful.


Even if you don't have time to watch the video, the message sent is loud and clear. Next time you peel out of your home on your trusty bicycle perhaps you'll think about change and hope and empower and smile because you're balancing on an object that is bringing change into our world.

The organization, We Give Books, is changing the way we think about reading children's literature. If you read books with children (or know someone who reads to children), you're in a position to donate a book to the charity of your choice for every book you read. Here's what you do:

1. Visit www.wegivebooks.org/
2. Choose a book from their FREE digital library of children's books OR choose a campaign to support.
3. Read the book online!
4. Read it over and over again, or pick a new one, enjoying the comfort of knowing that every time you read that book or a new book, one will be donated to the charity you designate.
5. See beautiful in the fact that you'll be part of the movement to donate hundreds of thousands of children's books to non-profit organizations around the world!

If you teach, you can use this site everyday in your classroom. If you're a parent of a child under 10 years of age and reading this blog, you have the opportunity to read a book on your computer, smartphone, or iPad with your child. If you need to deviate from the world of adult reading and want something to read with less than 20 pages, you can read knowing you're donating a tangible book to a non-profit organization.
There is research that supports the more books in a child's home, regardless of his/her parents' education, occupation, and class, influences his/her academic success (Evans, Keley, Sikora, & Treiman, 2010; Light & Pillemer, 1984). Children with more than 300 books in their home receive an average of three years more schooling than children from bookless homes. Further, this finding holds equal across nations (Evans et al., 2010). Thus, We Give Books can bring hundreds of books into a household, school, or childcare center at the click of a button.
Feel free to share this opportunity to see beautiful with any children's book reader or lover you know!

References:
Evans, M.D.R., Keley, J., Sikora, J., & Treiman, D. (2010). Family scholarly culture and
educational success: Books and schooling in 27 nations. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 28(2), 171-197.
​
Light, R. J., & Pillemer, D. B. (1984). Summing up: The science of reviewing research. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

One mother was reminded of this simple truth the other day as she watched her 10-month-old son play with a tennis ball on the kitchen floor.  He would pick up and throw the ball, then crawl to where it had rolled.  She was delighted to watch him learn how the ball worked and what he had to do to continue this little game he was playing with himself.  

Then, the two dogs who share their home with this new “little creature” came into the picture as they realized that, yet another of “their toys” had been taken over.  Now, the dogs USED to be “the babies” until “the baby” came along, and they have been slowly but surely accepting him for 10 months now. 

When the mother saw the dogs approaching, her thought was, “I guess I’ll have to pick the baby up and the game will end.”  However, she watched with joy as her son and two dogs took turns playing with the ball!  The boy continued throwing the ball, but instead of him “fetching” after it, the dogs did the work. The boy and dogs quickly learned their roles in the game and for the first time since the baby was born, the mother sat and watched the three of them play, in unity…and all because of a ball.

So, the next time you see a simple ball-think unity!  Is unity beautiful?…YOU BET!!!! 
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