How to Celebrate Amelia Earhart's Birthday with your Children

July 24th is birthday to famous female aviator Amelia Earhart. She is an inspiration to all women and is taught like a national hero in Elementary schools. Do your homework and use her birthday celebration to bond with your child and discuss lessons that can be learned from her life.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Some Time
• Some quick research
• Your child :)

1. Do Your Homework
   - Amelia Earhart was raised mainly by her wealthy grandparents and single mother. Her father was a drunkard and her parents divorced when she was in her early teens. All her neighbors gossiped about her (divorce was uncommon back then) and her mother moved away to live with some friends. When she became older, she went to Columbia University as a Pre-Med student (so she was smart academically). On a trip to visit her father, she took a flight in a plane and felt strongly this was what she wanted to do. She quit school and started taking flying lessons and tried to break records. Many people including her teacher and copilots did not have faith in her aviation skills and did not think she was very good. Amelia continued on to break many world records. In her attempt to fly around the world solo, she went missing and was never found again. Amelia Earhart in a letter to her friend stated, "Please know I am quite aware of the hazards...I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail their failure must be but a challenge to others."
2. Start the Conversation with your Child
   - a good place to do this is at dinner, in the car, or while waiting for an activity, etc.
   - If you feel like being creative you could get ice cream to celebrate Amelia's birthday and then introduce your topic over the treat.
3. After summarizing information about Amelia Earhart, bring up discussion questions aimed to point out important life principles
   - How do you think Amelia felt when her parents got divorced?
   - Do you think her parents were happy when she dropped out of medical school?
   - Why do you think Amelia thought she could fly a plane even though her teacher didn't believe she could?
   - Do you think Amelia knew she might die flying a plane?
   - Why does America celebrate her birthday?
   - Do you think you could ever do what Amelia did? Would you want to?
4. Reap the Benefits of A Thoughtful and Intimate Relationship with your Child
   - asking these questions will help promote your child to questions situations which arise in his/her life. It will help him in school and in self development.
   - These type of activities will bring you closer to your child and what he learns in school. It will give him/her opportunities to bring these questions up to his/her friends and experience learning in a more personal way.

Tips & Warnings

• Try not to judge your child's answer. It if it seems to be lacking something, probing may do the trick.