Gordon Flett

And that can give a, you know, but also just asking questions in a way that will elicit a sense of what's going on for that child's feelings.

So just as an illustration of this, my wife has relatives in Hingham, Massachusetts.

And almost all of them are retired teachers.

My wife is a retired educator as well.

So we were there visiting one day while back and Jane, who's a fabulous retired educator has, has her grandchild coming in.

And I watch as Jane says, has sits the child down and says, Hey, how'd your day go?

Tell me one good thing about your day and listens and just listening to them talk without interrupting.

that deep sense of somebody's taking the time to ask me but now they're listening to me is a key thing and then she'll say now tell me something that wasn't so great about your day which is a way to get into whether there's bullying or exclusion or ostracism or you know a teacher didn't respond the way that jane would have if she was the teacher and it just keeps the dialogue going where you can just show through your interest and think and that you're trying to understand what it's like to be that young person

sends an incredible message of not only trying to understand, but also acceptance and just finding ways to get more dialogue.

If there's no conversation going on, odds are there's something that's sadly being hidden.

The first element of this is that some kids are insecure.

There's certainly the uncertainty of going through and not knowing what could happen.

And it can just provide a sense of reassurance and guidance, provides the closeness and comfort of a parent or a grandparent or a guardian is there to really interact at a close level.

And I can give you an example of this.

You know, I'm not going to go big into storytelling, but I remember vividly as most people do, because I was old enough for it to be around when it happened.

The day that JFK was assassinated, I came home for lunch because I had both my grandmother who lived with us and my mother at home.

And I came home for lunch and the TV is on.

So I'm eating my lunch.

I remember even it was tomato soup, Campbell's tomato soup.

And on comes the story that seems to be a problem in Dallas.