Ellen Notbohm » Articles

Nice Work If You Can Get It

Ellen — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:01:53 +0000

The January-February issue Ancestry focuses on the work lives of our forebears. In Nice Work If You Can Get It, I discover that the amateur, unpaid genealogist of today had well-paid predecessors a century ago.

We do it because we love it.

There’s always one more elusive ancestor to track down, one more document to pinpoint. As family historians, we love the people we meet in the course of our work, the places we visit. Strangers do us invaluable favors, and we love paying those back and paying them forward, though few of us are ever paid in cold, hard cash for our work.

Perhaps we’re living in the wrong century. An article in the Pine Island (Minnesota) Record dated 10 March 1910 (reprinted from the Washington Herald) shows just how generously we may have been compensated for our hard work 100 years ago…

“Pay attention?”

Ellen — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:49:33 +0000

As adults, one of the laziest verbal shortcuts we use is admonishing our children to “pay attention!” What we really mean is that we want them to focus on listening to information we are giving them verbally or demonstrating for them. There is no money exchanged, no pay involved, and for children with some language-based learning differences, the phrase can be completely meaningless. When the child then fails to “pay attention,” we interpret it as non-compliance, rather than as our own failure to communicate in a meaningful manner.

“Paying attention” requires the ability to focus and concentrate on a finite task. This may not come naturally to a child, but the skills required to do so can be taught. When both you and the child understand how his brain processes language and sensory input, you will be able to help him implement strategies to improve his concentration skills.

Read the full text of my article “Teaching Concentration Skills” in the September-October 2009 issue of Children’s Voice.

Putting kids’ sleep issues to rest

Ellen — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:48:03 +0000

It just could be a case of the blind leading the blind, but if you’re exhausted enough, check out my article “Putting kids’ autism sleep issues to rest” in the December issue of MetroKids Philadelphia. Scout’s honor, some of these things worked for us; some, not for us, but for others. Does your kiddo have sleep issues…? What works? What doesn’t?

The Report of My Death was an Exaggeration

admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:06:56 +0000

Our great-great grandfather’s eulogy was printed in the newspaper … while he was very much alive.

Obituaries, like heirlooms, grow more valuable with time. But when is an obituary not an obituary? When they come before the subject has actually died. The how and why of premature obituaries can offer chuckles…and surprises. Click here to read the PDF