“Making the World a Better Place Foundation ” Poetry Contest
Form: Rhymed or unrhymed NO OBSCENE LANGUAGE
Contest open to children of divorced parents.
Children ages 12 years and younger
1st Place — $50.00
2nd Place — $25.00
3rd Place — $10.00
3 Honorable Mentions — $5.00 each
A second contest will be held later for Children ages 13 years and up and perhaps
adults as well in a third contest.
Judges: Poets’ Roundtable of Hot Springs
The contest will begin on Oct. 12, and poems should be received no later
than 8:00 A.M. CST. On Nov. 30, 2010. Poems should be emailed to:
poetry@makingtheworldabetterplace.us.
This will be a learning experience for parents to help them connect with their
children during this difficult time for both.
Guidelines for Parents in Helping their Child
Parents can help their children write the poem, offering ideas and correct spelling
of words or rhyming words if invited to do so by the child but the poem should be
the work of the child and not the parent. Parents should honor the child’s privacy
and if he/she does not choose to share what is written. Parents should merely make
suggestions, ask children about their feelings and listen to those feelings. This
will be very helpful for parents in understanding how their children feel about
this situation. Parents should use only words such as “I understand how painful
this situation must be for you”. Other suggestions could be, “I promise to do everything I can to make this easier for you”, “Everything will be ok” or express
similar feelings while being entirely non-judgmental when the child is talking
about his feelings. Do not blame the other parent.
This experience can be very therapeutic for both parents and children and can be a
bonding experience for both. The experience will offer parents an opportunity to
see exactly how their children are feeling about this traumatic situation, give
them an opportunity to express their pain and anxiety and assure that they are
loved and that everything will work out ok. If the divorce has been some years in
the past, the child might also find something good that came from the divorce that
he/she might like to express or share in order to give hope to other children.
To encourage children to participate, parents can explain the prizes that will be
offered and suggest that the child has an opportunity to help other children going
through the same situation and by letting others know how he/she feels. Parents
should express their excitement about the opportunity and how proud their child
might feel if he/she won an award. Winners will be notified by Jan. 5, 2011.
Making the World a Better Place Foundation reserves the rights to publish the
poetry in a collection of poems that children have written about their parents’
divorce and money from the publishing of the book will be donated to helping
produce a documentary that will help parents protect their children’s mental health
during this traumatic event. Each child whose poem is published will be credited
using only his/her first name and age.
Parent may wish to make to a contribution (however not a requirement for contest
entry or winning) to the Making the World A Better Place Foundation to help acquire
the funding necessary to produce a documentary for divorcing parents, The Place of
Refuge. Both small and larger donations will be helpful to begin the production
of this helpful film. The foundation is a 501 C3 organization and all donations are
tax deductible.
Parents can also enroll in the divorce recovery class on line at
www.childrenintheshadowsofdivorce.org. This class will offer divorcing parents
support during this time. All proceeds from this online class will also go to the
production of the documentary that will help divorcing parents and will be shown
on PBS and cable networks. Parents may download a free MP3, Swimming with the
Dolphins, A Creative Visualization that will help their children overcome their
anxiety about the divorce. This recording is available at www.oldmenewme.com.