In November of 2016 I wrote about the power of family stories and shared my family’s Thanksgiving experience as my Aunt Lee told of her Holocaust survival experiences and her live-in aide shared similar experiences living through the civil war in Liberia. This month I’ll tell you about some interesting research linking family story-telling style to self-esteem in preadolescents and offer my thoughts on the ramifications for raising children within a context of family wealth. Bohanek et al (2006) in their article, “ Family Narrative Interaction and Children’s Sense of Self ”, discuss Read more »
Family Values
The NFL, Values & Wealth
Chris Borland is considered “the most dangerous man in football” according to an ESPN article from last year. A San Francisco 49ers linebacker and former All-American at Wisconsin, Chris walked away from all of it at twenty-four years old. Why? He put his family and his health before money, fame and even the sport he loved and still loves. Fear of the cumulative effects of head trauma (his best guess is that he’s suffered thirty concussions) led him to assess what is Read more »
Thanksgiving, Family Legacy and Gratitude (Year-Round)
About twenty years ago my grandfather was ninety and I had never heard the full story of how he came to the U.S. My dad had told me some of the saga but he did not know the whole story. I let my parents know how much hearing the full story from Grandpa’s mouth meant to me and we took a plane to West Palm Beach (no big surprise on that location for a former NY Jew) with video camera Read more »
Walk The Walk
Just a quick post this month to share a NY Times Article about the Rockefeller family. Through its Rockefeller Brothers Fund they are joining the divestment movement to sell investments tied to fossil fuels and invest in cleaner alternatives. Whatever your personal beliefs may be when it comes to fossil fuels and global warming, the Rockefellers, through this move, are voting with their feet – behaving in a way consistent with their values even if it comes with financial cost. Similarly, in my Read more »