References
From Everyday School Life
In first grade, “Ola” was a somewhat withdrawn and unapproachable boy. He probably felt that school was a place that lacked structure and predictability. It was difficult for Ola to find his place. We read the book Gleding, and the class decided to become “Gleding superheroes.” We made a nameplate for the classroom door, wrote posters, and carried out secret Gleding missions. One of the missions was to look after the friendship bench outside. If someone was sitting there, the “Gleding superheroes” would fly over and ask if they were okay and if they needed help. For example, they could be a playmate, offer comfort, or help find an adult. Ola took this mission especially seriously. Every recess, he would rush over to the bench. He gradually dared to move around more of the school area. One day, we saw Ola in an eager conversation with an older boy. He was smiling and happy and followed the boy to the principal’s office because he needed help. In Ola and many of the other first graders, we saw children who cared that others were doing well.
Linda Bjugn – Teacher at Aronsløkka School in Drammen, Norway
From Kindergarten
– By working with Gleding and becoming more aware of how we treat each other, we've become better at caring. Better at asking how others are doing. We observe more positive changes in individuals and can more quickly offer support. In other words, we now have a greater awareness of seeing each other in a different way than before we started working with Gleding. We look beyond the surface and have a deeper focus on the inner life. It’s about daring to care and being aware of the responsibility you carry as a fellow human being to those around you. As the manager at Ormaskogen, I clearly see Gleding reflected in the staff. Values such as compassion, humanism, equality, and a strong sense of responsibility are very prominent.
Gleding isn’t something you leave behind when you go home from work at 4 p.m. — you carry it with you into your own family life. When you work consciously with Gleding, you become an ambassador for a better world — in every arena you are part of. It changes the way you see things. You become more open and generous in who you are, by working with Gleding over time.
Siri has said that Gleding is like a vitamin. I think that’s absolutely right. And we need vitamins to build good mental health, to nourish our self-image, our hearts, and our warmth.
Gleding is the right course toward a richer and more inclusive world for all of us — and it should be something that every health clinic, kindergarten, and school works with.**
— Anne Lenning, Director of Ormaskogen Kindergarten
From a family
– Our daughter has a brother with a number of extra challenges who takes up a lot of space. It can be very demanding at times, creating jealousy and causing hurt and sadness. She has been a very insecure girl, and it’s been difficult to reach her. Gleding has given us so many good tools that we’ve worked a lot with at home, and she is a completely different girl now. “Gleding” is a word we use every day, and it brings with it so many positive moments and (not least) conversations.
Our son struggles socially and has a sea of emotions that he finds hard to manage. This often leads to challenging situations both at home and elsewhere, which is tough and difficult for all of us. He has a hard time putting his feelings into words, but after we started reading Wondering and The Fox Who Had So Much on His Mind, he is now often able to refer to those books to explain how he’s feeling in the moment. This has helped us a lot in being able to help him. We often see, when he does something kind for others, that he raises his shoulders, spreads his arms, and says, “I just wanted to do a little Gleding” (as if it were the most natural thing in the world).
After experiencing what Gleding has done for us, we’ve also come to understand how important and meaningful it is to think about Gleding in other situations. Starting school was tough for our children. What can we do to make the transition as positive as possible, both for our own and for others’ children? This became a natural question to ask ourselves. Our children joined the conversation and came up with many great suggestions for what they could do for others. Just think about the kind of empathy Gleding helps to create!
Eline Heltorp, Vestby
From a Municipality
– GLEDING provides a structure for working with culture that includes children, youth, staff, and parents.
When GLEDING also contains very concrete tools to build the mindset we collectively need to implement changes, it can offer our leaders strong support in their work.
In Sauda, we have expectations that the GLEDING work can help the participating kindergartens and schools build the social and emotional muscles needed for the change process.
It is still early in the process for our participating kindergartens and schools to say whether the work has had a lasting effect, but it is observed that GLEDING brings energy and direction to the work with challenges.
We also hear parents talking about GLEDING as something that has a positive impact on them and their families.
That must be a good start, and our hope is that GLEDING extends beyond the participating kindergartens and schools and can contribute to an even more generous and inclusive society.
Målfrid Selvik Årthun – Educational Advisor for Kindergarten and Primary School in Sauda Municipality