All Saints’ News

The All Saints Episcopal Day School Board of Trustees recently formed an ad hoc committee focused on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). The ASEDS DEI Committee exists to advance the values of social justice, equity, and inclusion at our school. The Committee understands the following functions and actions as critical to supporting this mission: Reviewing and structuring our admissions process with the aspiration toward a membership that is proportionately demographically representative of Austin with respect to race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and disability Ensuring that ASEDS community culture is welcoming and as safe as possible to current and prospective members…

When I look back at my favorite family memories, nature’s soothing effects are often involved. My newborn daughter’s crying in the evenings turned to calm when we walked outside. My toddler son’s delight as he creatively piled leaves on the very patient cat who lived next door. Both kids dancing and singing in the rain. Overnight camping where the bickering stopped, and everyone was happy and entertained without the use of screens. Trips to the river where joyous hours slipped by while tubing, swimming, and observing frogs, birds, and fish. The latest educational research shows the benefits of outdoor learning…

As parents, we have the natural desire to protect our children. When they are babies and they cry, we pick them up and soothe them, telling them everything will be OK. As they get older, we may try to distract them with a favorite toy or fix their problem, so they feel better. Although these are natural parental urges, they may not help children learn to be resilient by accepting and moving through big feelings. Anger and sadness are part of life and learning to handle upset, helps us to be emotionally healthy and find more joy in life. Last…

Returning to school this fall has been challenging for everyone. I think we all felt like we had turned a corner and maybe we could get back to life as it was before the pandemic. When numbers were rising again, we knew what to do as a school to keep everyone safe. Though we’d made it through a year without a single case of COVID, there was an emotional toll. The long-term effects of pandemic life are more obvious in children as well. On a personal note, I lost both my father and grandfather this year. But you don’t have…

I thought parenting would be easy. Learning about young children and teaching in the field of Early Childhood Education was my passion. The key to parenting was to provide unconditional love, and a sense of safety, with structure and limits–and then of course, I would have happy and healthy children. The reality of parenting humbled me. The first big challenge was my infant daughter’s daily crying spells. Hazel would begin crying in the early evening and wouldn’t stop for several hours. I didn’t understand why nursing, or rocking, or singing, or swaddling, or shushing, or any of the other endless…

When I was in second grade, my family went through a hard year financially. We moved across the country and we were surviving on a school bus driver’s income. Luckily, we had a roof over our head, thanks to a family friend who had taken us in, but I remember eating a lot of soup and buying second-hand clothes for $1.00 a bag. I never wanted my children to experience the shame that comes from comparing yourself to others and feeling that others are looking down on you. As an adult, I had the privileges that allowed me to provide…