HI all,

In the spirit of children’s book week, here is a short article that looks at stories as a means to encourage systems thinking in the young, and young at heart..  It’s a short read (7 minutes, according to Medium.com) and I hope you can take a look.  

A few weeks ago, I shared this article and a copy of my Butterfly Sneezes book with the director of a local nursery school (school visit picture below. Lots of fun). Here was her response:   

Thank you so much!  This is amazing.  I'm completely hooked! 
I am all for anything that helps raise future generations of wonderful, kind-hearted, empowered genuinely good and thoughtful human beings.

The power we can give our little ones "teaching them to break an unhealthy cycle" ~ it's incredible!

She really got me with that last sentence.  She found hope in possibility of using children’s story to help students see the cause-and-effect patterns they are in, and sometimes create.  For examples of systems-friendly stories, I encourage you to check out Sheri Marlin’s blog and the updated When a Butterfly Sneezes book (which has a new introduction by the wonderful Peter Senge!)  

Given our current polarized environment, the more children can understand the interconnections that create the patterns of behavior they see,  the less less likely they are to react to them and more likely they are to be able to understand them and when needed, to change them.

My best!
Linda 

Web/Twitter/LinkedIn/Author information

*Please do share the article or your thoughts on the Butterfly Sneezes book with others.  Good hash tags:   #Storytelling #Kidlit #Leadership #Edchat.