GIFTED in FRANCE
15 September 2010
 “I think in the coming decade we will see well-conducted research demonstrating that emotional skills and competencies predict positive outcomes at home with one’s family, in school, and at work. The real challenge is to show that emotional intelligence matters over-and-above psychological constructs that have been measured for decades like personality and IQ. I believe that emotional intelligence holds this promise."
--Peter Salovey, from “Emotional What?” EQ Today

Dear Friends,

We're going to declare the weekend of 2nd and 3rd of October Family Weekend focusing on building a better relationship with our children with a DVD presentation for parents on Saturday 2 October 10h30-14h30 and the Odyssea walk/run race for the entire family on Sunday 3 October 09h45-13h00. (See the previous post.)

WHAT: Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child,

  DVD Presentation featuring a lecture by John Gottman, PH.d
  (Duration 1h40mins, followed by parents networking)

WHEN: Saturday 2 October, 2010
TIME:    10H30-14H30 (DVD presentation will run from 10h30-12h00/12h30, followed by parents making friends and comparing notes.
WHERE:  Maison des Association du 16ème, near Radio France.
RSVP:  Please RSVP giftedinfrance@gmailcom by Monday Tuesday 28 September --Subject: Emotional intelligence
NOTE: RSVP in advance is mandatory. The venue is usually closed for business on Saturdays. The conference room is located in the basement of the building, phone reception is not always reliable.
 
We chose this DVD since the topic of Emotional Intelligence has been one of the more popular subjects among parents looking to improve communication with their children. With the rentrée already underway, we are, once again, going to need all the help we can get. So, come with your partners, parents, grandparents and friends and lets get on the same page in building stronger bridges with our children. Dr. Gottman's expertise is also in relationships between adults, see his bio at the end of the page.

DVD Description:
" Every parent wants to equip their child with social and emotional skills necessary to succeed in school and life. In this 90-minute community talk to parents, John Gottman reveals how successful parents us "emotion coaching" with their children. Based on evidence gathered from his studies of families and parents, Dr. Gottman says that when parents offer their children empathy and help them to cope with difficult feelings like anger, sadness, and fear, they build bridges of loyalty and affection. Within this context, emotion-coaching parents will still need to effectively set limits, but misbehavior is no longer the main concern. "Compliance, obedience and responsibility come from a sense of love and connectedness children feel within their families," he says. "In this way, emotional interactions among family members become the foundation for instilling values and raising moral people." Source:  http://www.gottman.com/51166/Books-and-Lectures.html

About Dr. Gottman:
"He is the author of 190 published academic articles and author or co-author of 40 books, including the bestselling The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work ; The Relationship Cure ; Why Marriages Succeed or Fail ; and Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child , among many others. Dr. Gottman’s media appearances include Good Morning America, Today, CBS Morning News, and Oprah, as well articles in The New York Times, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, Glamour, Woman’s Day, People, Self, Reader’s Digest, and Psychology Today. "

Gifted in France does not endorse speakers or their material, but aims to provide a wide variety of ideas on parenting and relationships with a focus on understanding the gifted and twice exceptional population.

Please consider joining Gifted in France, a small but growing non-profit association.  We have many goals for this coming year, among them are to purchase our own video projector for presentations; more webinar recordings with experts in the field; and several hand-held GPS devices for geocaching/.educaching activities we hope to host for children via geocaching.com and other outlets. Please consider helping us financially or with your time in sharing your expertise with children, with coordinating an outing to a museum, or being part of the community development and planning committee. This is a genuine plea as we can not accomplish much without your help.

We hope to see you all soon. Don't forget to send in your RSVPs for the Emotional Intelligence event above on 2 October, and sign up with Odyssea for the family event on 3 October.

Best regards,

Helen Sahin Connelly, President
Rose Burke, Vice President of Events
Gifed in France

GIFTED in FRANCE
13 September 2010
Go the extra mile.  It's never crowded. 
~Anonymous

Dear Friends,

I hope your rentrée is going well.

I should have some meeting dates coming your way in the next few days.

In the meantime, I would like to invite you and your children to join us as we RUN or WALK the Odyssea race against breast cancer on Sunday 3 October.  Many of you already know of this race and know how much fun it can be for the family.  

This is the first year that Gifted in France is entering as a group. The race is open to children 8 and older, though there are child care/garderie arrangements by the Odyssea organizers, not GiF, for children who can't participate in the race. Space is limited in the garderie. We did the race as a family a few years ago and it was encouraging to see so many children running or walking alongside adults through the Esplanade du château de Vincennes  Click here for a map of the 5km route/path.

Just yesterday, I registered online for the whole family, it was quite easy and quick. You can register multiple people (family, friends) following their easy steps. 
Please do not feel obliged to do this event as a group, but if you wish to join us and walk together, here are some steps to follow:

1. Register yourself and/or your family online or in person directly with the organizers as indicated on their website.Gifted in France is not authorized to register anyone, or take any payments. 
2. Once you've registered, please email us at giftedinfrance@gmail.com, Subject: Registered for Odyssea and we'll add you to the list of people interested in meeting up before the start of the race.
3. Indicate names of adults registered and for which race. Also indicate name, age, grade of children registered to walk with you. Please also include cell phone numbers for your party.
4. Indicate if you will be running or walking the 5k and/or 10k race. We (my family) are only registered to walk the 5k race for the moment. Please note that for  the 10k you need a doctor's note saying it's OK for you to participate in this event. See their website for information regarding this.
5. Please NOTE: All children participating in the event must be accompanied by adults. GiF will not be responsible for looking after unattended children, or be responsible for children walking the race unaccompanied. We don't have the volunteers or the means to provide this accommodation at such a popular event.
6. Here is the information you need to register:

·         Schedule of events for Sunday 3 October, note that the 10k runners start first http://www.odyssea-paris.com/pages/programme.php

·         Link to register online: Once you start the first registration, the system allows you to keep adding names to your order, and give you a final receipt for payment at the end. http://www.odyssea-paris.com/pages/index.php

·         GiF Meeting time for the 5k race will be at 09h45, location to be determined. This gives you a chance to get there, retrieve your numbers, t-shirts, etc and find us. Warm ups, organized by Odyssea, are at 10h45. 5k race begins at 11h00.

·         Reminder: Once again, GiF will not be making any payments or taking in any registration. All these transactions must happen directly between you and the organizers of the race.

See you there, 
Helen Sahin Connelly
President, GiF