Adversity to Adventure

I often go out to schools to talk to children about walking in someone else's shoes, about my journey as an author, seeing another point of view and about looking at the Flip Side. I really love my job. As a former Elementary School Teacher, I am enjoying teaching children again and sharing my passion for writing and looking at the Flip Side.


After my presentations, the children are very excited about me as an author and how they relate to my stories. Many schools send me packets of letters from the children that touch me and make me laugh. I often receive an email or two from kids who really connected and feel the need to further communicate with me. Many will say that they want to be writers someday and share some personal experiences. I LOVE to receive letters from the children.

Last week I visited a school of near 400 kids. I had a great visit. When I shared that I was a twin, a young lady raised her hand to share that she is a twin as well and her brother was in the front row. I acknowledged what we had in common and moved on. Later that day, after I got home, I received an email from this young lady, "S. the Twin".

hi I have been looking at you're websites and on one there were no comments so I felt the need to write something so that's me S. the twin with the green headband my email is xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

p.s. I LOVE WRITEING TOO BUT AS YOU CAN SEE I'M BAD AT SPELLING.

S.

I was delighted to hear from her. I wrote her back (and told her that her spelling wasn't as bad as she thinks) and I told her that I was so happy that she had written to me.

About a week later, I got another email from "S. the twin" (cute). It touched me right down to my smallest heart string. I shared it with my husband and later my family at our Easter dinner. It touched everyone. It was the epitome of what Flip Side Stories is all about and further what "Just Because" is all about. Let me share:

"thanks so much for emailing me it really means allot I actually love writing I have written tons of story's that i think you might like but I still love you're story's because of the message its suppose to send I think I might be good at writeing story's like that because when I was two my parents got divorced and my mom was the custodeal parent we went to salivation army for most of our clothes and we went to the good fellows this is because there were two two year-olds one four year-old and another 6 year-old and my poor mom was a stay at home mom who had just recently at the time gotten a job as a waitress but we never knew anything was ever wrong because she always said it's going to be an adventure just like when we lost our house and had to move thats what she said its going to be an adventure but we got through every thing we may not had everything we wanted but we sure did have lots of love and thats what it's all about. 
 love,S.                                                  
p.s. we did finally find out about the it's going to be an adventure my sister C."

She and her family are an example to be followed. She saw herself in the second family in "Just Because". She could relate and see the FLip Side of a difficult situation with the help of her brave mother. I can't thank her enough for sharing her story.

Because of her story, I have decided to create a place for kids to share their stories and their connections with Flip Side Stories. I will share their stories and how they saw the Flip Side of Adversity.

I will share this blog post with her.  If you would like to leave her a comment, she will see this. I am sure she would love to hear from you. Thank you.

Hannah and Her Shoes

Walking in Someone Else's Shoes

Click shoes to see who it is!

Every shoe has tongue,

They all have a sole.

Every shoe has a heart

And a story to be told.

No matter what they look like

Whether old or new,

They are all quite different

Every single shoe.

Take the time to learn

What they have to say.

A whole different person.

Will be revealed today.

He's a man with quirky humor.

Remember Annie Hall?

On love and sex and death and life.

He's entertained us all.

 He was born December 1, 1935 in Brooklyn, New York. As a young boy, he became intrigued with magic tricks and playing the clarinet, two hobbies that he continues to do today. He broke into show business at age 15 when he started writing jokes for a local paper, receiving $200 a week. He later moved on to write jokes for talk shows, but felt that his jokes were being wasted.Speaks French. Refuses to watch any of his movies once released.Suspended from New York University.He loves Venice, and helped to raise funds to rebuild the Venetian theater La Fenice, which was destroyed by a fire. Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#89) (1995).

Did You Put That Noose Around His Neck?

Would you want your legacy to be that you hurt your child or another person's child because they weren't in an appropriate car seat or seatbelt in an accident?

Would you want your legacy to be that you hurt yourself, your family or someone else's family because you were on the cellphone or texting while driving?

Would you want your legacy to be that you hurt someone else or yourself because you were drinking and driving?

Would you want your legacy to be that you missed all of the warning signs of bullying or you didn't stand up against bullying because you didn't want to see it?

Of course not!

Ask yourself this...

Your Child's Legacy...
Would you want your child's legacy to be that of which they were the one who caused another child to feel so desperate that they took their life because of bullying?

Your Child is Being Mistreated!
Make sure you know whether your child is being mistreated at school. Teach your child to stand up for themselves or help them get out of the situation. It isn't just a kid thing. Listen to your children or look for warning signs like depression, fear of school, anxiety, anger, frustration and lack of friendships.

Your Child is a Bully!
Make sure your child isn't the BULLY. It is NOT just a kid thing. Teach our children to be empathetic (able to put themselves in the shoes of another, feel what they are feeling). You don't want your children to be responsible or feel responsible for the death of another child because they were bullying them. It won't matter whether you think it was their fault or not. What is done is done and it is what it is.

What kind of Role Model Are You Anyway?
Role model as a parent! They learn by example. If you speak unkindly of people or make it acceptable to say mean things or do mean things, then they will emulate that behavior. If you are "bullying" your child, they will imitate that behavior onto others.

Are you a Paper Wrinkler?

Take a clean white piece of paper. A blank canvas filled with potential and hope and creativity. Now crinkle it up. You can still flatten it out and use it but the wrinkles will always be there. The scars from mean words and actions don't go away and are still visible today. It doesn't matter who is doing the wrinkling to who.

There are things I still carry with me that I still fight with that people said to me when I was young.  They are the wrinkles in the paper that have made me feel unworthy and not good enough. I may not have had it as bad as some but even those few words or unspoken words, remain a part of a person for life. I can say now, I don't believe those words but that doesn't change how I felt at the time; humiliated, sad, mad, unworthy, ugly and small.

Did You Put That Noose on That Child?
Something even worse might happen in which you and your child (though you may not think directly) might have to live with the consequence of what bullying can push another child to do whether out of sadness ("Nobody needs me here.") or by revenge ("I'll get them by taking my life. They'll be sorry then.") No matter how you look at it, "the bully" will live with that for the rest of their lives just as if you killed someone texting and driving!

Please do not ignore either side of bullying. Every child deserves to be happy and feel safe. It saddens me to the core to think any child feels afraid or so desperate that they cannot live to their potential.  See both sides! See the flip side... where another point of view makes a better you!

We must fight bullying!





Inspired by an article from Kids Empowered this morning!
http://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/email/newsletter/1411271207

Spring on the Flip Side

For fun, I wrote a Flip Side Story about the Lion and Lamb. 

 Pure Michigan

by amber j housey©2011

Whose Simple Shoes?

Walking in Someone Else's Shoes

She wore these shoes in a movie.
Click here to reveal whose shoes.

Every shoe has tongue,
They all have a sole.

Every shoe has a heart

And a story to be told.

No matter what they look like

Whether old or new,

They are all quite different

Every single shoe.

Take the time to learn

What they have to say.

A whole different person.

Will be revealed today.

She makes us laugh and makes us cry,

She's the girl next door.

She humbly accepts her accolaides.

She's one that most adore.

She was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She has a brother and sister. Her parents, one-time actors and playwrights, met while performing theatrical productions for the armed forces and later co-founded the Atlanta Actors and Writers Workshop in Atlanta, Georgia.While her mother was pregnant with her, she and her husband ran an acting school for children in Decatur, Georgia. The children of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King attended the school. As a thank-you for their service, Mrs. King paid the hospital bill when she was born. Her parents later divorced. Her father died of cancer when she was ten.
She wanted to be a veterinarian as a child. She played clarinet in the band in school. Later she grew an interest in acting and after graduating high school she moved to New York City with her siblings.
She believes in and practices Hinduism. She has given her time and resources to UNICEF as well as to other charitable organizations. She is now one of highest paid actresses and an Academy Award winner. 


She is one of my personal favorites. 
To learn more...

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Giveaway!

Just Because

is NOW AVAILABLE! Get your copy now.
This book will teach your child the value of giving to those in need and how that action effects those they are helping. This book (and all Flip Side Stories) teach children how to see another point of view which inspires empathy and compassion for others; something our world is in desperate need of now.


We are so bombarded by bad news, tragedies, crime and violence. Our first reaction is to shut it out because it's hard to imagine there is anything we can do about it. The problem is that it is easy to become apathetic to the world around us causing us to not take action even in the littlest way. It is a way to protect ourselves and our emotions.


My books give parents and teachers a tool to teach children how to see new perspectives and to learn to walk in someone else's shoes. This encourages children to be nice to one another (a tool against bullying). From there, it can inspire the child and those reading to them, to take action no matter how big or small. As small as, "being nice" to as big as starting a charity and so much more in between.


It is important to me to have this book become successful so that the other Flip Side Stories can be published for the children of the world.

Watch this video to be inspired by the Flip Side.

If you like the video, please share it with everyone. Tell them how important it is to pass it on, pay it forward. Our children are our future. Help me mold a brighter future of action takers. Make it viral.
Do it Just Because!

Seeing the flip side, seeing another point of view, walking in someone else's shoes is the basis to being able to work well with others, collaborate and be a productive citizen.

I hope you will buy this book for your child and the children in your life because seeing another point of view makes a better you!