So many wonderful things were happening in the month of December across the schools. Did you know with your help we were able to give over 100 families a complete Christmas. That was thanks to the Administration, including Mr. Williams, and our staff including our School Counselors. With the help of Hamilton Cares a local non profit and donations from local stores like Far Point and others we were able to really take care of the community. Not to mention the WONDERFUL outpouring of gifts from our parents who took tags on the Giving Trees in each school. Thank you all for all you do for our kids.

The Band and Chorus Concerts were phenominal. The turnout of families to support out students broke all records and we were standing room only. Mr. Stokes, Mr. Palmentieri, Ms. Johnson, and Ms. Milone worked so hard and that hard work did not go unnoticed. The performances were so overwhelmingly amazing, they were recognized at the Township of Hamilton

January will be a busy month full of new experiences. Please take a look at the schools to see what is happening in your particular area.

The Hamilton Township School District was one of two school districts in Atlantic County that were awarded over 2 million dollars in funding to expand our Preschool Building at the Joseph Shaner School. We are so happy to be adding classrooms to ensure we provide full day preschool to all of the students in the township. See article below.

Our Special Education Department has a Special Education Parent Advisory Group that meets 4 times per year. Our next meeting is January 23rd at 6:00 p.m. in the Board of Education Office. We will have a special guest speaker from the NJ Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD). We encourage anyone who would like information on DDD services to come out to this meeting.

Do your kids make enough mistakes? I’m afraid not.

Most kids need to make a lot more mistakes while they are young, when the consequences for those mistakes are small. We all know that the cost of making bad decisions grows with the age of kids.

One mother said it this way, “Far better that my child totals her tricycle when she’s little. If I protect her from that, she’ll be more likely to total the family car when she is a teenager.”

One of the important core beliefs of Love and Logic is that every childhood mistake can be a learning experience provided there is no rescue from the consequences. When mistakes are handled with empathy and consequences, kids develop an internal voice that says, “I wonder how my next decision will affect me?” This is the gift of Love and Logic.

When parents do all the thinking, they rob kids of the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and send the message that the kids are not capable of figuring things out for themselves. Give your kids the can-do message: Let them do the thinking. When they learn from their mistakes they build character, strength, and confidence.

However, this is not absolute. This does not apply when it has to do with loss of life or limb. In these situations, parents must intervene.

There are other situations when I would be willing to rescue a child from a mistake. It really doesn’t hurt to rescue a child who is usually quite respectful, appreciative, and responsible. It feels good to help this kind of person and it can actually help reinforce relationships.

On the other hand, rescuing a demanding, unappreciative, and irresponsible person never feels good. And it does nothing to develop relationships and only reinforces irresponsibility.