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We would like to make available at no cost the Out of the Box Training Kit, Choosing Courage in a Climate of Fear (see below).

While this Out of the Box kit was written a little while ago, it is very appropriate for today’s climate. It contains many ideas that would be good for staff discussion.

Here are some excerpts from author Jeffrey Perkins:

• In these times it can seem as though everything is a reminder that we live with a lot of unknowns. Often these unknowns are connected to a cause for concern and anxiety. Inundated by media reports chronicling dangers of every size and shape, it is hard not to feel overwhelmed. And yet this constant surveillance for threat, that children hear about in the news or from our own discussion and anxiety, has the potential to teach our children very important, unintended lessons about our world.
  
  How can we respond to these threats from a place that acknowledges the reality of the world we live in without giving into fear’s desire to paralyze us? In this climate of fear how can we work with children in ways that don’t further support an overwhelming suspicion about the world?
  
  
• We know that children work out their anxieties in their play and that by investigating topics that cause the fears in children, we provide new material for them to make sense out of their experience. When the topics that children are concerned with involve world events, we can still provide opportunities for children to explore.
  
  
• There is no doubt that the world is a quickly changing place that provides lots of opportunities for stress and anxiety. Helping young children work with their fears now will help them build the foundation they need for confronting challenges and crises throughout their lives. Perhaps teaching our children courage begins with the simple act of becoming curious about fear.

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