Wonder Day 9.29.15

I decided to start listening to what my brother has to say whether it's important or not. How did I do it? Well it all started one day when my brother was talking to me about life. That's when that change happened. - Tianna, middle school student, Texas  USA

Wonder Day 9.3.15

The positive change I've made in life is moving in with my mom and stepmom. I've been living with my grandma for almost 10 years and I haven't lived with my mom since I was 2 years. I need to get to know my mom and stepmom better.  - intermediate student, Michigan  USA

Wonder Day 8.21.15

Stop taking life for granted. My positive change was that I stopped taking life for granted because life is a privilege and life can just be taken from someone anytime. That's why you should spend time with your family. - intermediate student, Michigan USA

Wonder Day 8.7.15

A positive change that I want to make in my life is that I want to talk to my biological Dad more. How I'm going to do that is I'm going to get a phone and talk to him. - intermediate student, Michigan USA

Wonder Day 8.3.15

I measure myself against my brothers. I want to change that.

I'm jealous of all the things they do. This is an old feeling. Ever since I was a child, I felt like I should be a boy and brother in this family instead of the only girl. 

I'm not sure why I feel like this, but I think it's because my brothers got attention for their accomplishments, which they deserved and, either I didn't get enough attention or I cannot feel the attention I get. Maybe my jealous feeling is because I don't trust that it's okay for all of us to receive.

I want to be me. I want to celebrate my brothers when I hear about the good things they do rather than feel jealous. 

I'll change by remembering that I want to change. The next time one of my brothers accomplishes something, I'll tell myself and him that I'm happy for him. The next time I do something well, I'll tell myself that I'm happy for me.  - adult in a workshop, Florida

Wonder Day 7.31.15

I would probably like to change my life to include greater discipline. I have a very difficult time focusing on things which don't interest me. So the actual process of getting work done is usually something I put off. Motivation for work is fleeting and incredibly rare. By actually getting work done, I could probably start prioritizing my life, despite usually using work as an exercise to keep everyone away from me since I don't feel extremely connected with my family. Trying to get myself reacquainted with them and attempting to reconcile with my younger sister are things I could also strive for, I suppose. There's a lot of things I could strive for. I suppose I just need to prioritize these as well. And maybe to say "I love you" a bit more. - high school student, Florida

Wonder Day 7.6.15

I wish I can be the person that never lies to other people, especially to my family. I wish I can be the one who is really hard-working, and is worthy of all the love my parents give me. And I really want to be honest. I also need to change my attitude to my parents, because for a long time I thought of them as being mean to me, but actually they are doing it for my own benefit. I only noticed it a while ago. - high school student, Florida

Wonder Day 6.24.15

No Hate. Don't push away! If someone asks you what's wrong, don't say nothing or it's fine. Tell them what really is wrong. Especially your family. They might show love in a different way and sometimes you don't like that way, but don't push them away or hurt them with mean words. Tell them what's wrong and they might actually help you. Try to find a way you like to tell people things. Your family cares, but you just don't know it. Just don't hate. If a friend comes to you, don't snap at them and tell them to go away. Tell them what's wrong. If they are good friends they will care. If not, they're bad. They just push away from people by not helping friends try[ing] not to push away from their family. 

- middle school student, North Carolina

Wonder Day 6.3.15

Something that changed my life was about 10 years ago. My parents bought me my first console which was a Playstation. It made my life because it was fun and I was really good at two games, Medal of Honor and Street Fighter. I used to be lonely before my brother was born. My parents would both work day and night and I would never see them. My Playstation was the only thing that would give me company. - middle school, North Carolina

Wonder Day 5.25.15

I want to learn to forgive my mother. 

I feel that if I can learn to forgive, truthfully, I may be able to move on; to end the pointless warfare: to rebuild the family. A multitude of past occurrences have embittered me towards her, but I see recently that she is often attempting to act more just. 

Unfortunately, the environment of my home for the past few years has created a set of defensive walls which surround me at all time: I am now a part of the proliferation of mistreatment. 

I wish to grasp a means by which I can return to loving her as a son loves his mother so that she can fully love me. The change must be gradual, for it is not within my power to simply absolve her for all prior mistreatment. 

The first steps which I've been taking include apologizing when I recognize I am out of line, despite the resentment which urges me to continue fighting. Soon, I will have to learn to drop arguments sooner, eventually, I will be able to forget the past. - high school student, Florida

Wonder Day 5.11.15

When I was little I was the only girl in my family. I have two big brothers, but now I have a little sister. My brothers and I always argued and yelled and fought each other. I would cry because they hit me all the time. I had no one to play with but my Barbies and my dog. I was most happy when I played with my toys and my dog. I love animals. But when I played with my Barbies, it was like I was in my own little world, a fantasy world. I would play with them for hours non-stop. But lucky for me I have a big family. So when my cousins came over they would play with me. We played with Barbies all the time and...and dress them up. But now that we have grown up, me and my brothers don't fight. I have learned that my brothers would hit me for a reason. I would get on their nerves and mess with them so they would hit me for a reason. I'm kind of happy they hit me because it made me stronger, not a weak girl. Now that me and my brothers are teenagers, we have grown close because we don't fight, we love each other so much. We would die for each other. So now I know that my brothers made me what I am now and I love them. Family is everything. (OTF) I love my family to death. - middle school student, NC

Wonder Day 4.30.15

I have learned how to do sign language and communicate with my cousin! Never give up! - middle school student, TX

Wonder Day 3.23.15

Since I was 9, my mom wasn't ever the same. She used drugs and men over me and my brother. But we still love her because she's my mom. She abandoned me for hours, sometimes days. And we still stayed and suffered in silence until my father heard my screams and call for help. But I didn't have to say anything. He saw the pain in my eyes. I was 11 when my dad saved me and it took a long time. Just think 2 years of getting beaten, neglected, lied to, and just forgotten. Two years I stayed that way and I was patient waiting for someone to save me and they did. - middle school student TX

Wonder Day 3.20.15

A positive change in my life that I have made was that I stopped being so negative all the time. This year I have decided to be more happy and positive because in the past I've went through a lot. My parents split up a lot and finally got divorced when I was 12 and so I moved houses a lot. Lots of things changed so I was always depressed. I would juts sit there and cry for no reason sometimes and now it's different. I am more positive and happy and always try to make the best of things. Even though I'm still poor and have 2 crazy siblings, and don't have the best life. I am still happy. - middle school student NC

Wonder Day 2.3.15

I don't want to live in books. I want to live with family. -fifth grader