I really loved to sing all the time, and I was constantly entertaining. Finally, my dad saw an article in the local newspaper in Phoenix, and it was for a children's theater, an audition for 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.'
I say this as a young dad seeing children going into primary school: I don't think we should underestimate the formative effect on a child of those first years in primary school.
I lived in Peckham for the first 12 years of my life and then my mum and dad decided they really didn't want to bring up their children there. So they saved up money and bought a house in Plumstead, semi-detached, three bedrooms.
I think Dad didn't really treat us like children; he treated us more like little adults. We were good kids.
We're all like children. We may think we grow up, but to me, being grown up is death, stopping thinking, trying to find out things, going on learning.
Even very young children need to be informed about dying. Explain the concept of death very carefully to your child. This will make threatening him with it much more effective.
I have marvelous dreams! I meet Buddha, I meet Jesus, I meet Mohammed. I constantly dream of space, stars and planets: we are the children of stardust.
Seems like God don't see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams - but He did give us children to make them dreams seem worthwhile.
Here's what I see all across this great city - people working together to make Boston a better place to live and to raise children, to grow and pursue dreams.
I love graphic design. I love working with design, and I love storytelling, so I've been working on a children's book for a while, and I'd like to see that through.
To nourish children and raise them against odds is in any time, any place, is more valuable than to fix bolts in cars or design nuclear weapons.
You know, nothing is more important than education, because nowhere are our stakes higher; our future depends on the quality of education of our children today.
I treasure my meetings with individuals affected by autism - parents, children, teachers and friends. Their strength is inspiring. They deserve all possible opportunities for education, employment and integration.
Education promotes equality and lifts people out of poverty. It teaches children how to become good citizens. Education is not just for a privileged few, it is for everyone. It is a fundamental human right.
Through books and photographs, I saw a world that was not my own - and I realized that there was another world. That's why I'm concerned about education, because it helps our children see other worlds.
Here once again education is crucial, it enables children to be become more aware of their rights and to exercise them in a respectful manner which helps them shape their own future.
Mainly, I have actually been getting involved with an organization called MALDEF. It's a Latino organization. And I would like to get involved with charities that have to do with children or homelessness or education, or all of them together.
Many schools today are sacrificing social studies, the arts and physical education so children can cover basic subjects like math, English and science.
I started my career in parent education with the idea that we needed to let our kids go. I believed that parents were suffocating for their children. There was no room for individuality and personhood.
Education commences at the mother's knee, and every word spoken within hearsay of little children tends toward the formation of character.
If we don't empower families to be able to have a quality education, then their children - for the first time in American history, truly the first time - will not have the same economic opportunities.
