Tag: Modeling

Helping Kids Deal with the Stress of the Test!

”Mom, everything seems to speed up around me, get louder in my head, and I can’t take my test. I feel scared.” This is how my ten-year-old son described his anxiety during test taking time. But though I know he has felt those feelings in the past, this is the first time he’s been able …

Appreciating Our Child’s Influencers – Moms, Dads, Grandparents, Teachers, Coaches

What would our family life be like without teachers, coaches, and loving relatives? Whether we refer to other caring adults in our child’s life as our village or not, he or she has a community of adults who act as influencers. These individuals are either unpaid or underpaid for the critical roles they play in …

Your Story

If you read this blog, then you already know that cultivating social and emotional skills in our kids is not a luxury but an essential for preparing caring, confident and contributing adults. We can only learn and improve as parents through this dialogue if we share our stories. So I am hoping you might share …

Elements of a Confident Kid… Service Minded

– noticing others or environmental needs, feeling empathy and desiring a role in contributing to their or its well-being. About being service minded A service-minded person is both self and socially aware. She must know her own strengths and limitations. She sees what contributions she can make and how they relate to other’s unmet needs. …

Emotional Honesty

…When I want sincerity tell me where else can I turn? Because you’re the one I depend upon. – Honesty by Billy Joel1  “I’m fine. Really. Fine.” From that statement, are you convinced that I’m fine? Even without hearing the tone of my voice, there’s a clear subtext. “I’m not fine. I can’t bring myself …

Elements of a Confident Kid… Skilled Listener

Listen /li – sn/ to pay attention to someone or something in order to hear what is being said, sung, played, etc. to hear what someone has said and understand that it is serious, important or true.1 About Listening: The ability to listen and to try and fully understand another person’s perspective is one hallmark …

Elements of a Confident Kid… Being Helpful

helpful /help-fel/ making it easier to do a job, deal with a problem willing to help other people1 About Being Helpful and Being Helped: The ability to help others requires self-awareness and social awareness. The helper must identify ways in which he can contribute to solving other’s problems or promoting another’s well-being. He must also have …

The Birth and Re-birth of Identity

Every spring is the only spring – a perpetual astonishment. – Ellis Peters The birds chirp outside of my window building nests and resting on the newly budded branches surrounding my office. As spring reveals new growth, we watch our children grow and develop, their transformations at times readily apparent and rapid. At a family …

Mine, Yours and Ours

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” –          Buddha No child enters their preschool or even early elementary school years having perfected the art of sharing. As parents, we are eternally frustrated by the “this is …

Junior Teacher

The teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is him/herself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. They become jointly responsible for a process in which all grow. – Paulo Freire The beginning of the school year presents an opportunity to get a fresh start with …

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