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Author Dr. Robert Saul

Raising Young Citizens in the Age of Columbine

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    • Conscious Parenting: Using the Parental Awareness Threshold
    • My Children’s Children: Raising Young Citizens in the Age of Columbine
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    • Thinking Developmentally
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Blog

Why a pediatrician (and son) decided to write books

May 11, 2022 By Robert Saul

Mom and son

While pediatricians do not use holy water in their interactions, they do invest an incredible amount of professional experience and emotional energy as they engage in a partnership with their families.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: children, citizenship, empathy, pediatrics

Our Children are Ill: Should we treat the symptoms or the cause?

May 5, 2022 By Robert Saul

Children

Let’s address all children as our children and promote policies and practices that support the formation and maintenance of safe, stable and nurturing relationships.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: children, nurturing, relationship

MERCY

April 27, 2022 By Robert Saul

Mercy

Whether engaged in medical service as a physician or community service as a citizen, we need to let mercy be our guide and let compassion and forbearance lead us forward.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: chaos, mercy

Horses were my mother’s religion

April 19, 2022 By Robert Saul

The love of horses

My mother was a very devout person. Her love for horses was the perfect outlet for her creative energy and was the demonstrable way for her to show her love for so many things.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: horses, love, moral compass, spousal abuse

NEVER AGAIN? NOT REALLY

April 6, 2022 By Robert Saul

Never again

Lies are costly. Lies have a cost because they multiply; because they tear at our moral fabric; because they can become unrecognizable.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: genocide, lies, trust, truth

Science and Children: What’s the Big Deal?

March 31, 2022 By Robert Saul

Science and children

Science matters—it improves lives, it tells us when we need to make changes and it provides a blueprint how to help children and their families.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: childhood cancer, childhood development, children, science, vaccination

Why? Because I care about children

March 11, 2022 By Robert Saul

Children

Yes, I might be overzealous in my work on their behalf, but I will be unapologetic. Why? Because I care about children.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: children, civility, diversity, families, history, racism, science, trust, truth

Skepticism can erode trust

February 27, 2022 By Robert Saul

Skepticism

Only when we recognize the healthy aspects of being a skeptic (to keep us morally strong) and diminish the toxic aspects of being a skeptic (believing unverified information and breeding mutual suspicion) can begin to see our path forward. We have to be open to listen, carefully observe and course correct when needed.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: common good, skepticism, truth

Receiving trust requires give and take

February 19, 2022 By Robert Saul

Receiving trust

Trust is such a difficult issue to discuss at times. We all want to be trusted, and we want to able to trust others. I refer to the former as projecting trust and the latter as receiving trust.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: honesty, trust

Staying “true” to the truth – Moral courage

February 10, 2022 By Robert Saul

Moral courage

the ability to hold our ground and stay the course and to let right triumph over might displays the moral courage necessary to stay true to the truth. We will all waver at times, so this is a difficult virtue to uphold.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: courage, moral courage, morality, truth, truth-seeking

The toxin of poverty and children—a way out?

January 29, 2022 By Robert Saul

Childhood poverty

Poverty is a harmful toxin in the lives of children. It is a lifelong environmental toxin that affects children in the short-term and the long-term.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: childhood development, children, poverty

Conflict Resolution by Rational Discourse

January 19, 2022 By Robert Saul

Conflict resolution

The ability to resolve conflict in civilized society is probably not an innate ability. We have to be taught how to do it. We need to see positive role models in our parents, family members, employers, teachers, and fellow citizens.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: conflict resolution, forgiveness, rational discourse

“Professional” lessons learned

January 8, 2022 By Robert Saul

Lessons learned

Recently I was asked to write an article about my professional journey. When I was completing that, I took the time to highlight 5 lessons learned. As I detail them below, I also realize that they have applicability to all of our social interactions and that every day is a day to learn and improve.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: bias, common good, humanity, intuition, lessons learned, retirement, smile

Truth-seeking is a humbling journey

December 27, 2021 By Robert Saul

Truth

Truth matters. It is not easy, and it is a journey that one must sincerely pursue…and humbly accept.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: life journey, truth, truth-seeking

The Professional Road Less Traveled

December 16, 2021 By Robert Saul

Professional journey

One might ask what I have learned in my close to 50 years since college and foster parenthood being a pediatrician, medical geneticist, educator, administrator and author. I could create a long list, but I will choose just a few

Filed Under: Thoughts

Columbine revisited – again and again

December 7, 2021 By Robert Saul

School children

These measures are no guarantee that school shootings will be eliminated. It is time for all of us to pledge to make the changes needed. Life is complicated, and bad things will continue to happen. But just accepting the death of children as inevitable and extending “thoughts and prayers” to the families is reprehensible when corrective measures are available.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: Columbine, forgiveness, gun regulation, mental health, parenting, schools

Somewhere…

November 30, 2021 By Robert Saul

Somewhere...

If we use our strengths and seek to improve where we can, then we begin to get to that somewhere, somehow and some day. That is our joint humanity.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: children, civility, diversity, faith, forgiveness, science, trust, truth

The Correctness of Political Correctness

November 16, 2021 By Robert Saul

Political correctness is correct

Political correctness is ok and necessary in my view. It serves to adjust our moral compass on an episodic basis. Not only is it a good thing, it is a necessary component of a civil society and democracy such as ours. After all, civility is the hallmark of citizens of faith. Citizens of faith care about how they treat each other.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: civility, democracy, political correctness, racism

To Be Unconscious or Conscious – That is the Parenting Question

November 5, 2021 By Robert Saul

Unconscious or conscious

There are two ways to be a parent—unconscious or conscious. Like most things in life, this is not a binary choice. It is both. I contend that we vacillate back and forth continually as we try to maneuver this journey called parenting.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: conscious, parental awareness, parenting, unconscious

Em (“within”) – Pathos (“suffering”): Empathy Revisited

October 20, 2021 By Robert Saul

To practice empathy, I have to use my own strengths and weaknesses to reach out, gently peek behind the curtain, be humble, and pursue a course of active engagement.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: common good, empathy, heaven on earth

The everyday lessons of genocide

October 11, 2021 By Robert Saul

Reaching out

The lessons of genocide are unfortunately the lessons of everyday life. We need to listen long and hard to those lessons so we can improve our community and the community of humankind.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: community involvement, genocide

Personal responsibility in our community

September 19, 2021 By Robert Saul

Responsibility

Getting involved in our community in some tangible way is crucial for positive change. Change will only occur when citizens commit to get involved in the issues in their community.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: community improvement, involvement, personal responsibility, social capital

The gaps…oh, the gaps

September 7, 2021 By Robert Saul

Filling the gaps

The gaps that we ignore in history only serve to perpetuate false nostalgia or continue a false narrative. When doing so, we continue to deny what defines our history.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: gaps, racism, reckoning, slavery

TRUST AND FAITH…AND LOVE

August 27, 2021 By Robert Saul

trust

I think the intersection of trust, faith and love is very much a part of the practice of medicine and reasonably shared by an elder in his community.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: faith, love, trust

Forgiveness – Field of Dreams style

August 12, 2021 By Robert Saul

Forgiveness is essential as we strive to improve ourselves and the lives of our fellow citizens. Let’s pay attention to the signs (church, movies, and music to name a few) that can provide the guideposts for us to recognize our current situation and make a positive change. This change (forgiving ourselves first) must occur before we can make a difference.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: field of dreams, forgiveness, reconciliation

This I Believe – Parenting Matters

August 6, 2021 By Robert Saul

Parenting

The power of the influence of our parents is incalculable. They can provide the platform for our actions and the actions of generations to come.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: beliefs, influence, parenting

Parenting and maps

July 18, 2021 By Robert Saul

Directions

Parenting is sometimes considered an innate process to raise one’s children to be capable adults—that everything is straightforward and will easily fall into place over the years from birth to adulthood. Conceiving children does not properly prepare us for the nurturing, physical and emotional, needed to raise healthy children.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: parenting

Sages can make a difference

June 17, 2021 By Robert Saul

As we age, we can choose to be elderly or become elders. In the former role, we tend to accept the physical and mental changes and just lament their presence as inevitable. In the latter role, we are not “age-ing” per se but hopefully “sage-ing.” As a sage, we are using our collective experience to help provide advice and potential wisdom to others.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: aging, community improvement, elders, involvement, sage-ing

The tale of three opposites

June 7, 2021 By Robert Saul

The tale of three opposites

More often than not, we know the things we should be doing. I can recall many times when knowing something still did not translate into positive actions on my part. When that happens, I have found that looking at opposites can be helpful.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: anti-racism, justice, love, poverty, racism, selfishness

It’s a free country

May 16, 2021 By Robert Saul

USA map

Freedom is not really ours. It is a gift, and we must use that gift wisely. Great sacrifices have been made on our behalf. And we must honor those sacrifices.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: democracy, freedom, responsibility

DEAR EVAN HANSEN has lessons for us all, beyond our youth

May 5, 2021 By Robert Saul

The Broadway musical “Dear Evan Hansen” deals with issues confronted in the angst of adolescence and about learning how to deal with these issues. But these lessons are life-long issues—they are just more dramatic during adolescence and the emotions needed to deal with them then are often more exposed. So, it is appropriate to relook at the lessons and add an additional adult perspective

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: Dear Evan Hansen, forgiveness, lessons of life

What to Say to Someone Who Lost a Child

April 29, 2021 By Robert Saul

Child loss

I know from experience the anguish that families experience with the loss of a child. Whether the circumstances include a previously healthy child who died from a tragic accident or a child with a chronic health condition who succumbed to their disease, families are never really prepared for their loss. They need our support, especially when we might be uncomfortable and not know what to say.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: child death, Child loss, grief, guilt

Save Our Children!

April 21, 2021 By Robert Saul

The abuse and neglect of our children is preventable. Children, our most precious resource for the future and our most vulnerable group of people, deserve our protection.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: Child abuse, child neglect, prevention

Forgiveness is essential

April 5, 2021 By Robert Saul

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is essential to human existence. The ability to forgive allows us to move on in our lives, progressing from childhood to adolescence to adulthood.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: forgiveness

Trust is the currency of social interaction

March 25, 2021 By Robert Saul

I don’t think it is an exaggeration to state that “trust is the currency of social interaction”—that trust is the basis of how we can make our words and deeds worthy of the privilege of serving others or the privilege of telling others of what we think they should be doing.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: social interactions, trust

COMMUNITY IS FAMILY

March 7, 2021 By Robert Saul

We must remember that our community is our family. Often when we think in ‘a business way’ we tend to lose sight of this big picture. We need to constantly remind ourselves that the real business of business is people.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: business, community improvement, family

Is Truth-telling Important?

February 27, 2021 By Robert Saul

Truth-telling is an essential skill for personal life, for interpersonal social interactions, for community activities, and for governmental decision-making.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: community improvement, truth

The lessons of tyranny for parenting

February 19, 2021 By Robert Saul

Being a tyrant is the exact opposite of being a conscious parent that understands the give-and-take of effective parenting and is willing to adapt as needed to change. Tyranny has no place in society or in parenting. The lessons put forth by Professor Snyder are valuable reminders as we navigate the journey known as parenting.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: parenting, tyranny

The Chemistry of Community Improvement

February 11, 2021 By Robert Saul

I don’t think that it is a stretch to think of community improvement efforts in chemical way. New and enhanced efforts can result from the combination of simple “reactions” by individuals or groups.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: community improvement, human chemistry

A Pediatric Profile in Courage

February 2, 2021 By Robert Saul

I bring the story of this brilliant yet exceedingly humble pediatrician to our attention as a reminder that the work of protecting and enhancing the physical, social, educational, family and psychological environments of our children and families is the ongoing work of ALL of us. 

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: courage, Dr. Mona Hannah-Attisha, Flint water

WHAT REALLY MATTERS

January 25, 2021 By Robert Saul

I often ask myself “what really matters?” as I contemplate the path forward…I can engage as a citizen (seeking to help others), as a truth-seeker (on a journey of life-long learning and continuous improvement) and as an elder (having acquired an array of life-long experiences and seeking to use those in a positive fashion). Not being engaged is really not an option.

Filed Under: Thoughts

Do Pediatricians retire from public service?

December 17, 2020 By Robert Saul

The work of helping our children and families is ongoing. It demands our continued efforts. For those of us that retire from the workforce, we should never withdraw from our commitment to children. I pledge to continue the work!

Filed Under: Thoughts

Science and early child development

November 29, 2020 By Robert Saul

There are so many variables to be identified and analyzed for early childhood development. These variables are essentially the pieces of the “jigsaw puzzle” of life but do not in and of themselves dictate the future. But these variables can help us anticipate certain issues, be proactive as needed, be reactive when needed and intervene with support when it is needed.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: childhood development, early childhood

“Our society isn’t fulfilling our promise to children”

November 2, 2020 By Robert Saul

The new AAP Blueprint for Children demands our full attention going forward. We can do no less.

Filed Under: Thoughts

CIVILITY MATTERS

October 11, 2020 By Robert Saul

Social discourse without civility is so ineffective and detrimental to our society.

Filed Under: Thoughts

Children as Our Teachers

September 27, 2020 By Robert Saul

Children are our best teachers! Listen and learn.

Filed Under: Thoughts

Foster Children Need Our Help

September 14, 2020 By Robert Saul

Children in foster care need our special attention and nurturing.

Filed Under: Thoughts

“Wasn’t me”

August 25, 2020 By Robert Saul

As we seek to solve current issues, a “wasn’t me” stance should be substituted with “was us”–and move forward.

Filed Under: Thoughts

Life-long learning – toward unconscious competence

August 8, 2020 By Robert Saul

Life-long learning is a guide to a life fulfilled.

Filed Under: Thoughts

Resilience is so important

July 3, 2020 By Robert Saul

The ability to receive help when we are down is key to developing resilience.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: Resilience, resiliency

Communal forgiveness

June 3, 2020 By Robert Saul

Social responsibility (to improve the lives of our fellow citizens and to right past wrongs) is integrally tied to forgiveness.

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: communal forgiveness, Social responsibility

Being better carpenters

May 25, 2020 By Robert Saul

“I don’t think that I can ever forgive you.”  “You don’t mean it.  You’re not really sorry.”  “When will you ever learn?”  Expressions such as these are repeated in households and workplaces everywhere every day of the week.  We humans are social beings, and social beings interact.  Interactions inevitably will lead to some conflict.  I think our ability to resolve those conflicts…

Filed Under: Thoughts

Captain Miller to Private Ryan – “Earn This”

May 8, 2020 By Robert Saul

So many sacrificed so much for all of us…

Filed Under: Thoughts

I have been truly blessed—thank you Mom, Julie and Mabel!

March 14, 2020 By Robert Saul

Mothers come in all forms—birth mothers, stepmothers, foster mothers, caregiving mothers (often grandmothers or aunts) and mothers-in-law. Whether assuming the role from birth or stepping in at various junctures in the life of the child/adult, these women play a vital role throughout our lives.

Filed Under: Thoughts

ANTI-RACISM SHOULD BE THE GOAL

March 1, 2020 By Robert Saul

Racism can be replaced with anti-racism

Filed Under: Thoughts

Capital Punishment is Just Plain Wrong—Thoughts from a Proud Flip-Flopper

February 7, 2020 By Robert Saul

Capital punishment is wrong in my opinion. And it’s been a tough journey for me to come to that conclusion.

Filed Under: Thoughts

Labels—Merchandise, yes; People, no

January 7, 2020 By Robert Saul

Labels are not for people.

Filed Under: Thoughts

Revisiting my father

December 13, 2019 By Robert Saul

Being mindful of those around us and accepting them and their humanity is so crucial to our lives. The lessons of Mr. Rogers are pertinent to me, at every stage of my life. His messages are certainly for more than children!

Filed Under: Thoughts

525,600 Seasons of Love

December 1, 2019 By Robert Saul

Abundant friends and love can make us “wealthy” and our lives fulfilled if we consider each minute (all 525,600 of them) in a year a chance to exhibit a season of love.

Filed Under: Thoughts

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Dr. Robert Saul

Dr. Saul deeply cares for all children. His advocacy on their behalf has led him to write this book for parents. We all need constant reminders about the optimal nurturing of children, and this book provides a multi-dimensional approach to parenting that is refreshingly new.

Conscious Parenting

$14.95

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Recent Posts

  • Why a pediatrician (and son) decided to write books
  • Our Children are Ill: Should we treat the symptoms or the cause?
  • MERCY
  • Horses were my mother’s religion
  • NEVER AGAIN? NOT REALLY

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Dr. Saul’s Books

  • Conscious Parenting: Using the Parental Awareness Threshold
  • Thinking Developmentally
  • All About Children
  • My Children’s Children

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