Blogs on Mental Health

There is nothing quite like the sound of children on a playground at recess. As a former elementary school teacher, such sounds remain a pleasant sense memory for me. Unfortunately, on school playgrounds across the country and for many of the children on them, there exist sounds that are not as pleasant as those I recall. As educators, we all know from our own experiences that the less structured spaces of a school such as the playground are often sites of name-calling, harassment and bias.

From natural disasters to economic meltdowns, from wars abroad to tragic shootings close to home, this year brought to light the increasing complexity of the world in which we raise kids. Our natural instinct as teachers, parents and caretakers is to protect children from hardship, yet we know walking between the raindrops of adversity is not possible. Instead of sidestepping challenge, we can teach kids to cope positively, to learn and grow from adversity. We can arm our youth with skills of resilience, and these lessons can begin in the classroom.

It has been one week. The surreal string of heart-wrenching funeral services is winding down. The Sandy Hook children who survived have been placed in another school, and they will return in January. There is the facade of movement and activity in Newtown, Connecticut, but down deep, there is deep-seated grief and the inextinguishable memories of the 26 wonderful human beings gone too soon. It will be a long while before the families and educators will feel anything close to right again. But there are ways we can help and hasten the day when it hurts a little less.

Editor's note: See David Markus's latest blog, "One Week Later: Healing Sandy Hook."

Words fail. Our hearts are broken. Only deeds matter after tragedy takes away our children and the adults who teach and care for them. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

President Obama spoke to the nation about this morning's heartbreaking events.