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Change is in the Wind

Thursday, May 8, 2008

burgess_photo2_small.jpgExciting things are happening here at Goops Unlimited - and soon enough we will be able to share with you ALL of the exciting details. We are preparing to launch a new product line, as well as a series of classes and informative lessons. Please stat tuned to our website and newsletter for the most recent updates.

Also, Nicholas Beatty, a long time employee of Goops Unlimited, is leaving for UC Berkeley to participate in a week long research project on Gelett Burgess at the Bancroft Library. The library, we’ve just learned, is closing until next year. The Bancroft Collection contains all of Mr. Burgess’ journals and notes pertaining to the creation of his Goops books.

Please check back often. We love to keep in touch with our readers!

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Our Mother’s Day Special

Thursday, March 6, 2008

mom_kids_blog.jpgIn honor of the Mothers we love, Goops Unlimited is offering a special Mother’s Day promotion. The entire Goops collection, Goops and How to Be Them, A Treasury of Goops, and Goop Tales: Alphabetically Told, are available for purchase in a package price of $35.00. (A savings of $15.00)

Share your love for your mother this year with a gift of The Goops. For over 100-years, Goops have been delighting families, and sharing the importance of manners and polite behavior.


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The Goops in Guatemala

Thursday, March 6, 2008

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This year Goops Unlimited is pleased to be part of a literacy project in Guatemala. The Goops books are being used by Nicholas Beatty, a Goops Unlimited employee, for teaching English to children in the villages of San Juan la Laguna and Panyebar, Guatemala. The books are also in the process of being translated into Spanish for the enjoyment of potentially millions of children who have never experienced the joy of the Goops.

For more about this project, or to learn how you can share the Goops in your community, contact Nicholas Beatty at info@TheGoops.com.

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Kindness - A Very Simple Rule

Friday, February 15, 2008

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Parents mush exercise self-control and exhibit adult behavior as role models for their children. An immature adult is not capable of teaching a young child how to display kindness in this world. You must learn to love others more than yourself. Children respond to gentleness and understanding and learn to trust the kindess of their parents, In turn they desire to please and they too become gentle and understanding. This way of life establishes self-confidence in both child and adult alike, and is the first step to building a happy and healthy family life.

If you raise your voice and label your child with unpleasant names, they become frightened and confused and over time defensive. They will then respond to their playmates and siblings in the same manner in which they have been treated. We often forget that a bully is the product of a bully. The best way to solve disagreements is for the child and parent to calmly discuss the issue at hand. By maintaining our composure, we recognize that The issue may not be as big as we think it is.

After the issue is solved we can pat ourselves on the back and acknowledge the fact that we were able to teach our child an essential lesson: KINDNESS

There is a very simple rule

That everyone should know.

To be kind to young and old alike

Wherever you may go.

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Compartments of the Heart

Friday, December 21, 2007

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This is the season of love and the heart is our storage unit. For such a small space, room is absolutely unlimited. We are capable of enjoying many loves in our lives. Each of these being equally important to us. Our heart has many compartments to safely place and protect each love. Parents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, cousins, friends, pets, teachers, as many as you like. The more we offer love, the more we receive in return.

Love wraps us in warmth, builds our confidence and provides us with security. Love is free and anyone can generate it. Be considerate, and reject any judgmental thoughts, or feelings of pettiness. Offer a bit of understanding, compassion and kindness.

Our wish for you this season is to feel the magic of love and carry it within yourself through out your life.

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A Christmas letter from Gelett Burgess to his mother - 1895!

Friday, December 7, 2007

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Originally printed in, The Lark, in 1895.

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Holiday Sale at Goops Unlimited

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

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Now is the time to get our latest book Goop Tales: Alphabetically Told, as well as our classic A Treasury of Goops: Timeless Manners for Every Generation. For a limited time we are offering both books for only $21.95… a savings of $13.00!

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The Table of Love

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Table of LoveFamily life today is very different with everyone somehow getting so terribly busy. However, having dinner together as a family unit is still essential. Sitting down together at the dinner table gives the family special time for sharing and appreciating one another.

There are two important reasons families should share this time. Exchanging news of their activities and ideas is important, as well as the opportunity to teach and practice table manners and polite behavior. Due to the fact good manners take effort, children should be repeatedly reminded to be proper in such a way as not to interfere with pleasant family conversation and the chance to have a good laugh together.

My family was raised with the Goops and this gave us a humorous frame of reference to deal with correction. Instead of a defensive reaction, the family could share a smile. “You are being a Goop,” or “don’t be a Goop,” made the point clear, and seemed a kind and more easily accepted method of reproach.

Basic table manners should be constantly employed so they become automatic. This takes as many family meals together as possible each week. Promotion of good manners may be the best gift you could give your child. In turn, the child feels alive with a healthy sense of self esteem.

The dinner table should be a happy time together and the effort is well worth it. You can never serve up too much love.

“The Goops they lick their fingers,
The Goops they lick their knives,
They spill their broth on the tablecloth,
Oh they lead disgusting lives!”

-Gelett Burgess
Goops and How to Be Them

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Teaching Proper Manners is Teaching Love

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Goops and How To Be Them, Barbara RossProper manners are more than please, thank you and you’re welcome. It is a way of life learned through loving instruction, but more importantly by example.

Our young children look to us and copy every word we speak and action we make. They are quick to understand our facial expressions and our body lanquage, even before they learn to speak.

As parents we must set aside our petty selfishness and love our child more than we love ourselves. We give them confidence, through our example, and they know they are important to us. Nothing in more beautiful than a child with healthy confidence.

Teaching proper manners is teaching love, kindness, consideration, thoughtfulness, helpfulness, and generosity, among other notable traits. When learned and practiced, these traits become a habit and make daily life much more enjoyable. You can give no greater tool to help create a happy life for your child than your love.

“Be parents; gentle, helpful and forgiving, Goops will learn that living,
Is much more fun when you are glad, Than when you’re selfish, rude or bad!”

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Smile or Not

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Goops Smiling

So you want to be recognized? Maybe give a little shock to catch some attention? There is no greater shocking mechanism than your very own smile.

Just experiment with a smile and you will see what I am talking about. Walk into a room and smile, watch the faces and reactions of those you greet. They can’t resist a tiny curve of the lips, or perhaps a reply with nice big smile. And enjoy the little giggle you feel deep inside. You will most likely have caught them off guard with a bit of a shock. Its fun, try it!

Walk down the street or into an elevator and smile. You once again catch people off guard. Most often you will find them surprised and pleased. And there’s that little giggle again. Don’t you feel great?

Goops SmilingAs you practice you will become aware of the magic of this powerful tool, and learn to appreciate it doesn’t cost a thing! A smile is completely free. You can carry it with you where ever you go. It even passes through a security checkpoints without sounding the alarm buzzer. You always have your tool with you to use at a moments notice. No one can disarm you.

There are those who maybe have never experienced an uninvited smile. Maybe they feel the whole world is against them and they respond with a tough and mean demeanor. To be strong they must look stern and be completely uninterested. They do not realize the powerful tool they too possess. There is no rule the other guy must smile first. You have the upper hand if you smile first. If you do it, watch their faces and you will understand just how disarming a smile can be.

As you observe those around you, you will discover smiles of all kinds. Wide smiles, crooked smiles, surprised smiles, secret smiles, peek a-boo smiles, shy smiles and more… who knew facial expressions coul be so powerful?

Beware, smiling makes strange things happen to you also. The more you use your tool, the more you will want to and the easier it becomes. People will began to respond with a smile and maybe even a, “Hi!” A word of caution however; by using your smile too much it can become compulsive and life-long addiction. Best of all you will get suchGoops Smiling a happy giggle deep inside giving you confidence in knowing how important you and your powerful tool really are.

It takes courage in the beginning and you may have to practice a bit, but it is easy! It takes no effort, and once perfected it never wears out. You will have your smile for the rest of your life. And each and every one of us has his or her own special smile, unable to be matched by anyone else. So… smile and enjoy your day.

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