The Adventures of Chuck and Colleen: A Guide for Parents and Educators

By George R. Sheckart Ph.D.

Chuck and Colleen are intelligent sibling rescue cats. Chuck has stubby, rough whiskers and a fancy, fluffy tail. Colleen has beautiful long whiskers, sharp claws, and an ability to keep quiet, even when her brother is bragging about how smart he is. One day when Chuck tells Colleen that he wants to join the Space Patrol, neither has any idea of the great adventure that is about to begin.
When Chuck and Colleen receive porch visits from two Space Patrol cadets, Maizie and Munch, Chuck reveals he is ready to accompany them on a journey to space. As the three cats celebrate and wonder what they will do if they encounter a space monster, Colleen listens quietly and decides they are all space nuts. After all, Chuck has never even been off his porch! But one night when Colleen sees what she thinks is a craft from outer space, the cadets must determine how to work together to overcome their fears and uncover the truth.
The Adventures of Chuck and Colleen is a guided-reading story that intertwines the adventures of rescue felines with psychological principles to help parents and educators enhance their skills in supporting children to become effective problem solvers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Jun 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781480890435

George R. Sheckart Ph.D.

George R. Sheckart, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist with a specialty in child and adolescent development. Board certified by the American College of Forensic Examiners in assessment, Dr. Sheckart has been conducting evaluations in educational and mental health settings for over twenty-five years in an effort to understand how children learn and grow. His areas of interest include cognitive skill development and parenting strategies.

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Copyright © 2020 George R. Sheckart, Ph.D.

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ISBN: 978-1-4808-9044-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-9042-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-9043-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020910838

Archway Publishing rev. date: 06/16/2020

CONTENTS

PART 1     Introduction to Chuck and Colleen

PART 2     Chuck and Colleen

PART 3     Theoretical and Practical Puzzle Pieces in Development

PART 4     Parental Approaches to Child Rearing:

PART ONE

Introduction to

Chuck and Colleen

Learning is a difficult and challenging process under the best of circumstances. Most people need guidance and assistance when attempting to understand new concepts and learn new skills. Clarity is often provided by examples and experience-based instructions. There are those few individuals who can learn independently, however these individuals are the exception to the rule. These are unique individuals, and it is certainly exciting to have them in the world. For the rest of us, having the opportunity to think about what a word may mean or what a statement may reflect is critical to gather sufficient knowledge to be able to use information wisely and well. It is the guidance we receive through adults, whether they’re parents or educators, that is critical to the process of learning to think, reason, and problem solve.

This story and the textual support that follows are intended to help young children explore ideas and situations that are not always clear and observable. Under those circumstances, it is critical to a child’s success that an adult is available to provide guidance and support to help open the door for the development of critical thinking skills. This is what makes this text a guided reading activity, not a story for children to read independently. The adult who guides the learning process can add a rich level of excitement to the exploration of reasoning. This text is supported by the work in psychology and human development that was begun at the end of the nineteenth century and has progressed into the twenty-first century. This text also looks to integrate parenting skills that have been studied for more than fifty years with the development of a child’s ability to think, reason, and problem solve. Epigenetics are included to offer adults food for thought regarding how behavior can become integrated into children and inform their ability to think and manage self-control.

The importance of these perspectives emphasizes how children can and need to be guided to become highly effective learners, both academically and socially. To further enhance the aspect of social learning, the suggestion here is that the effects of these theories and ideas are interactive and shape who we become and who we want to become.

We have major responsibilities to our children, ourselves, and the social context in which we live. This story, like most stories, is intended to entertain and to take us places we may have never been. This story should also make us think about our friends and what makes us friends with them.

PART TWO

Chuck and Colleen

Chuck and Colleen are two very smart cats. Both have short brown hair with some light brown stripes. Short-haired cats with stripes are sometimes called tabby cats. Chuck and Colleen are tabbies. These two cats are brother and sister. Colleen is a fraction bigger than her brother, and her ears are a little bit straighter. Chuck, not wanting to appear small compared to his sister, usually stands up as straight as he can and gets up on his tiptoes whenever a picture is taken. After all, what are boys supposed to do? How can girls be taller than boys?

Colleen has beautiful, long whiskers. Chuck’s are rather short, stubby, and rough. Chuck’s are somewhat broken because he likes to stick his head into small spaces to see what he can see. One might call him a curious cat, but he has had a hard time keeping his whiskers from getting broken. Colleen is not as curious as Chuck. She keeps her long, precious whiskers right where they are supposed to be, close to her nose and not in holes. Much of the time, she can be found stretched out on her favorite chair, grooming her long whiskers to make them shiny and stand out as straight as whiskers can.

Chuck is very proud of his very fluffy tail that is a bit longer and a bit browner than Colleen’s. Colleen knows her brother has a fancy tail, but she never says anything to him about it. Chuck already thinks he is the smartest of all cats. Colleen does not think that he is all that smart, but Chuck is kind of a dreamer, so she tries not to argue too