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Bathe
your children in prayer,
says author, columnist |
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Keep
lines of communication open,
stresses Cassandra Walker |
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RACINE — Cassandra Walker, who
recently led a day of reflection for mothers and daughters
at the Siena Center, has no daughters of her own; she
has four sons ages 3 to 13. But this vibrant woman, columnist
and author was well qualified on the topic. Many of the
stories in the two books she has written for middle and
high school youth are geared to both genders and come
from her own difficult experiences as a teen.
“I talk to them as if I’m their peer,”
said Walker, who won the 2002 National News Association
Award for best serious column and a 2002 Missouri Press
Association award. Entitled “Sharing With Cassandra”
the column appears in the Kansan in Kansas City, Kan.,
and the St. Louis American, an online resource based in
St. Louis, Mo.
In the day of reflection at the center, Walker covered
the “Top Seven Things All Kids Think Their Parents
Don’t Know ... But They Do!”
Among them, she said teens get embarrassed and learn from
their mistakes and peers play a key role in the lives
of teens.
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| Walker |
Walker shared a poignant story from her youth in Hazelcrest,
Ill., a suburb of Chicago. Charlotte Love was new to Walker’s
school. “She was ostracized because of the way she
looked,” said Walker, who could identify with Love.
“I was teased because I was tall and skinny,”
recalled Walker of her teen years. “But when she
(Love) came, instead of having empathy for her, I stayed
quiet. I didn’t stand up for her.” That changed
one day when both of the girls ended up in the nurse’s
office at the school at the same time.
“We
started talking and bonding. I found out she was going
to have open heart surgery,” said Walker. So later
Walker and her classmates created cards for Love, which
Walker was to take to the hospital. “But that day,
the principal announced she died on the operating table,”
said Walker.
“I learned I waited too long
to reach out to her. Her mother lived a lot longer than
she did. I open this up so mothers and daughters can communicate.”
In an interview over breakfast before the day-long event,
Walker recalled why she writes for youth. During a difficult
time in her teen years, she worked hard to become part
of a cheerleading squad. “I was cut in seventh grade,
then eighth grade. I was learning to take defeat. So when
I became an adult, I wanted to write those stories down
for other kids,” she said.
As a young girl , Walker said she loved to write.
Later, when she landed a job as a reporter in Minnesota,
she met Alex Haley, the author of “Roots.”
“He talked to me about not giving up — his
book, “Roots” had been turned down 40 times
before it was published. He died three weeks later,”
said Walker, who believes her encounter with Haley was
instigated by God.
Because of that meeting with Haley, she published two
books. “Becoming Myself” is geared to sixth
grade through ninth grade youth. “Stories From My
Life” is especially for high school students.
After each chapter, which includes personal stories, Walker
has a capstone for youth. For example after one chapter
in “Becoming Myself,” she talked about judging
others. “Whoever you are — a student, teacher,
neighbor or friend — keep an open mind and try not
to judge. Judging won’t help a pregnant teen to
put their life back together again.”
Walker said as she has grown older, she has geared her
newspaper column more toward moms and adults “with
a touch of Erma Bombeck,” rather than to teens.
As a mother, she said a book which has been extremely
helpful to her lately is “The Power of the Praying
Parent” by Stormie O’Martian.
“I’ve
been praying through that book two times a week. It covers
everything from physical health to moral health,”
she said.
She suggested if a child is having a problem “go
with them to a place they really want to go and during
that time talk to them about what’s going on. Often
you have to pray if a child is having an obstacle. If
you bathe your child in prayer, the outcome will be favorable,”
said Walker who, along with her husband Ron and their
children, is a member of a Baptist church in Missouri.
While she would prefer to talk to her sons first thing
in the morning over breakfast, she has found “their
style is to lay on my bed at the end of the day and talk.”
Walker, a consultant to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago
and to the Girl Scouts of America, said she hoped the
day of reflection not only gave mothers and daughters
“a renewed sense of their relationship,” but
also a “renewed sense what they want to do with
their lives, and how they see people in society.”
About 25 pairs of mothers and daughters attended the event.
One mother from East Troy said she was at the event with
her 13-year-old daughter, “to open communication
between both of us.”
A 15-year-old girl from Racine said, “I think it’s
good to be here to spend more time with my mother. Usually
I’m busy with school things.”
That girl’s mother’s hope is that “she
feels she can always come to me.”
For more information on her columns and books, visit
Walker’s Web site: cassandrawalker.com. |
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