Savannah James Hosts Third Annual "I PROMise Makeover" to Buy 60 Girls Prom Dresses

Mid-April is here, which means prom season has officially arrived! Riding in a limo with friends and wearing the perfect prom dress is something that many girls dream about for their junior and senior years of high school. Unfortunately, prom seems to get more and more expensive every year and for some girls, a brand new prom dress just isn’t affordable for them or their families.

Savannah James has watched high school girls experience the disappointment of not being able to afford prom, a milestone event for many young women, and vowed to find a way to make prom affordable for everyone. For the last three years, she has fulfilled that vow through the LeBron James Family Foundation’s “I PROMise Makeover” event.

ONCEKids Publishing is run by literacy advocate and Mompreneur Eileen Wacker.  Click here to find her acclaimed books

For this annual event, Savannah James and her family treat 60 seniors from particular high schools in Ohio by helping them pick out and fund their dream prom dress. 

James and her husband, LeBron, first meet the lucky students for lunch at the Hilton, where they have a chance to receive tips from James’ personal stylist on must-have prom accessories or which undergarments they should wear underneath their dresses. Savannah also offers the girls her own advice, encouraging them to let the beauty on the inside shine through and to create a special memory. 

 After lunch, the girls are given a chance to sift through racks and racks of gorgeous prom dresses and even pick out the perfect pair of shoes from a large selection of everything from glittery high heels to fancy ballet flats.

When asked about her inspiration behind the creation of this foundation, Savannah responded, “Prom is a milestone event for most young women, and one that no girl should deny herself because she can’t afford to look the part. Prom is the icing on the cake because shortly after that is graduation and after is real life. So it’s about enjoying the last of your high school days because you never get that time back.”

Savannah James and her family’s kindness is truly amazing and gives high school seniors a special day to look and feel like a princess when they otherwise would not be able to.  

ONCEKids Publishing is run by literacy advocate and Mompreneur Eileen Wacker.  Click here to find her acclaimed books

Are Schools Pushing Our Children to the Limit and Making them Sick?

Is homework causing your child to get sick? This is a question that might result in some eye rolls, but reliable research and surveys conducted in middle-class areas present a pretty convincing case. 

Pressure for children to succeed in both sports and in the classroom has led to a desire, fueled both by parents and teachers, to not only achieve but overachieve. Of course we want our kids to be the best they can be and succeed in everything they do, and having a slightly competitive spirit is not a terrible thing given society’s competitive nature- but are we pushing our kids too far? 

Denise Pope, a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and co-author of a study on Experimental Education, says that these days children are doing an average of three hours of homework per night, some less and some up to five hours. The problem has become so severe that some schools even have to place a limit on the amount of homework teachers are allowed to give. High achieving schools are separating kids at younger and younger ages, placing them in advanced classes and honors courses in grade school! 

Pope’s study focused in on upper-middle-class school districts because it is known that affluent families whose children attend privileged schools often do not question how much homework their child is being given and, as you can imagine, parents paying a lot of money for their child to be a student at a particular school expect results. But how is the pressure

privileged schools put on children affecting their health and happiness? To answer this question, Pope conducted a survey of over 4,300 students from 10 high-performance high schools. The results showed that 56% of students felt homework was the primary cause of stress in their lives. These levels of stress due to excessive homework not only affected the happiness of the students, but also their physical well being. The connection was very clear, high levels of stress were causing all kinds of physical problems, including sleep deprivation, weight loss, migraines, stomach aches, and even ulcers. Not to mention the impacts stress had on their mental health as well, causing depression and high levels of anxiety. Although the study was conducted with high school students, Pope also has data that presents the same conclusions with younger students. 

To stretch even beyond just homework, by having these attitudes drilled into student’s heads  at a  young age we are setting ourselves up to raise a self-centered, overly competitive, and“all work no play, winner-takes-all” generation of people. 

So how can we fix the issue and help our children’s mental and physical health while still raising smart, hard working people? Pope says the level of homework that showed the best results is two hours for high schoolers and a maximum of 90 minutes for middle schoolers, as well as finding a balance between sports and time to just relax. And it is up to parents to monitor their child’s health and find a way to teach them responsibility and being a hard worker without going overboard! 

This Story Demonstrates How Even the Smallest Act of Kindness Can Make the Biggest Difference

It is commonly believed by children that if they are not direct participants in the act of bullying, that they are not contributing to the problem. While not being the bullies themselves is a start, it is not helping to put a stop to a long-standing issue. It is so important that kids not only stay away from bullying, but if they see if happening they take a stand and put a stop to it. And one touching story demonstrates this importance, showing that a simple act of kindness can mean so much more to someone than you may think. 

The author of this story begins by talking about walking home from school one day during his freshman year of high school. Just like an other Friday, he was walking home with big plans for the weekend on his mind, when he saw another boy walking home carrying a large stack of books. He found himself thinking that he must be a nerd for carrying all those books home during a weekend, when he saw a group of larger boys running at him. He watched as the older boys ran into him and knocked all the books out of his hands. They then proceeded to trip him and break his glasses before taking off running and laughing. The author recalls how he saw the boy crawling around looking for his glasses with a terrible, heart breaking sadness in his eyes. So he jogged over, picked up his glasses, and helped him gather his books, comforting him by saying, “Those guys are jerks, they should really get lives.” 

With a grateful smile the boy looked at him, relieved, and said “Hey thanks!” After helping him up, he found out the boy’s name was Kyle and he lived near him. He walked Kyle all the way home, carrying his books, and chatting the whole way. At the end of the walk, he invited Kyle to play football with him and his friends that Saturday, and they ended up spending the whole weekend together. 

Over the course of the next four years of high school, he and Kyle became best friends. When it came time for college, Kyle attended Georgetown to study to become a doctor and the author went to Duke on a football scholarship. But the miles between them did not come between their strong friendship. Come graduation day, Kyle was to give the class speech. But the author recalls how, sitting in the audience, he had no idea just how much Kyle’s speech was going to affect him. 

He remembers how Kyle cleared his throat, nervous, and began by saying “Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach…but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them.”

Kyle then went on to explain that all those years ago, that day walking home from school freshman year of high school, he had planned on taking his life that weekend. He talked about how he had brought home all those books so his mom would not have to go through the pain of cleaning out his school locker. He goes on to say how it was a simple act of kindness that saved him that weekend. How one boy had helped him after being bullied and showed him kindness and friendship. 

It was not until that moment that the boy realized the deep importance of what had seemed to him like a small act. It is this story and many others that show us the power our actions can have on others, even things that seem small or natural to us. 

So even if your child is not being bullied or an instigator of the bullying, make sure to explain to them how crucial it is to stand up to bullies and show others kindness, because you never know how your actions can affect others- and in some extreme cases it might just be the thing that saves them.