School’s in session… “The Question” is here to help by Pamela Francis
Problems in the lives of teens and young people have always been around. Age old concepts like “Peer 
pressure”, “bullying” and “adolescent angst” have become buzzwords child psychologists toss around like so many sound bites on “TeenNN” in describing what kids go through in their daily lives, but today’s school-aged children may face more than any previous generation when it comes to cultivating and maintaining a healthy self-regard. The kind that stands up against questionable media images, a dearth of positive role models, and in increased intimacy with violence, crime and death.
School has been in session for about a month or so now and it’s probably safe to say the social issues of young people are in full swing — from teasing and bullying, to ostracization, to cyber-campaigning for likes and followers — it’s on. My twelve yr-old son Malachi just returned from a dream weekend away with his best friend, complete with golf-carting, 4-wheeling, trampoline park’g and binge McDonalds’g, not to mention a ride on something called “the ring of fire” at the Fair that had him — and his lunch — both defying gravity. To hear him describe it, the kid had an absolute blast, but sure enough, inescapably, while there, he found himself having to answer to some 8th grader about “not having a hairline” (ok…) nor a “shoe game”. Wow… Really? Yes, just in time for Anti-bullying month (the origins of which I don’t know, but apparently it’s every October now) my son has to take crap from some kid with, arguably, a better barber and an expensive sneaker collection.
Thankfully my son is at the stage in his emotional development where he can actually come home and tell me such a tale and enjoy a good laugh with his ol’ ma. But that wasn’t always the case, and in many households where there are middle school-aged children, an encounter like that can easily devolve into self doubt, or, worse, the seed of scorn-induced teenage violence.
The Question: A Survivor’s Guide for Tweens and Teens was written by Malachi to help kids navigate the ups and downs of life. It is a book BY a kid FOR kids and it has touched the lives of several readers in the year since it published. In it, my son poses the philosophical question: “what’s the use of living if bad things are going to happen?” and then goes on a quest to find out, interviewing educators, childcare professionals, religious personnel and family members.
The Question is available on amazon.com (search: The Question by Malachi Douglas) and currently has a non-profit indiegogo campaign to get at least 1 book into at least 1 school in EACH of the 50 United States. Anyone interested in giving to this campaign can access it at http://igg.me/at/thequestionusaschools.
Mallie and I are passionate about children’s wellness advocacy. Creating a pocket guide of survival tips to inspire young people during this critical time in their lives was truly a labor of love that not only sowed hope in Malachi’s life, but reinforced key relationships with the adults who care about him. It is our hope that the same magic applied to the many lives that will encounter this book will work the same results.
To find out more about the book and its young advocate for children’s wellness, Malachi Douglas, I invite my readers to visit the author’s website at malachidouglasthequestion.weebly.com
Tags: #antibullying, #children'swellnessadvocate, #ClayJarsPublishing, #MalachiDouglas, #TheQuestion, #usaschools
