After eleven long years of heartfelt service, Annie, Bill and Falcon have called it a day.

 

"A great philosopher once observed, 'Genius is childhood recaptured at will.' The imagination and creativity we had at five too often begins to fade at fifteen.   If you wish to rekindle your attitude, or you wish to re-ignite your team's passion for great customer service, here's some good advice . . . practice Sandbox Wisdom. I can guarantee that it is a fun, refreshing and quite possibly, life-altering read."

- Mac Anderson, founder of Simple Truths and Successories, Inc.

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales

The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal, its throat was very small.

The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.

The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah." The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?"

The little girl replied, "Then you ask him."


The genius of childhood

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch.  At the head of the table was a large pile of apples.  The nun had made a note, and posted it on the apple tray:

"Take only ONE.  God is watching."

Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of cookies.  A child had written a note:

"Take all you want.  God is watching the apples."


1001 children's books you must read before you grow up

Fans of young-adult literature might love a recent book from Julia Eccleshare called 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. This 960-page, full-color hardcover is an excellent resource for parents, teachers and librarians.


Why you should act like a 4-year-old 

To generate really earth-shaking ideas, you need to get in touch with your inner child, say the authors of a new study. After spending six years interviewing more than 3,500 executives, INSEAD professor Hal Gregersen found that the most creative leaders tended to act like curious 4-year-olds, taking wonder in the world around them, talking to everyone and questioning everything. "This kind of questioning attitude and mentality is just rampant in these folks," Gregersen says. INSEAD Knowledge


If you want to see the future

Look at how childhood has changed (rather than technology):



Puzzle

A four year old girl was sitting home with her father one beautiful Saturday afternoon.  Her father was watching the football game when the girl said, "Dad, I'm bored.  I have nothing to do."

The father picked up the Sunday paper and walked across the room toward his daughter.  He opened the paper and stopped turning pages when he saw a full-page ad for an airline.  The ad read: "We travel the world," with a large photo of the earth as seen from outer space.

The clever father tore the page out and then tore it up into small pieces and said to his daughter, "Okay honey.  Put this world back together again with the Scotch tape over there."

The bored little girl slid off the couch and, with a hesitant look up at her Dad, started arranging the numerous pieces.

In a few minutes the girl said, "Dad, I'm all done. I'm sill bored. I have nothing to do."

Doubting his daughter could have put the ad puzzle back together so quickly, the father exclaimed, There's no way you could have put that world back together so quickly.  Let me take a look."

When the girl presented her father with the full-page ad completely intact as it once was, the father was amazed.

"How did you put that world back together so fast?" he asked.

And the girl explained: "Well, you see Dad, there was a picture of a person on the other side.  And when I put the person together, the world was together."

Imagination

An elementary school teacher was giving a drawing class to a group of six-year-old children. At the back of the classroom sat a little girl who normally didn't pay much attention in school. In the drawing class she did. For more than twenty minutes, the girl sat with her arms curled around her paper, totally absorbed in what she was doing. The teacher found this fascinating. Eventually, she asked the girl what she was drawing. Without looking up, the girl said, “I'm drawing a picture of God.” Surprised, the teacher said, “But nobody knows what God looks like.”

The girl said, “They will in a minute."