What is it… why you want it… and how to get it! “I had no idea it was so late!” my ten-year-old exclaimed lifting his head up after a few hours of finely-crafting origami Star Wars figures with his cousin, Grandma and myself who were equally entranced in our crafting projects on spring break. Clearly, …
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Category: Building a Positive Family Environment Tags: children success, executive funtion, family flow, family mindfulness, flow, flow in families, focuses attention, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Mindfulness, Self control, Self-management, Self-regulation
If you have a problem, don’t muddle through. Here’s a simple rap about what to do. Stop, calm down before you act. You’ll think more clearly – that’s a fact. Say the problem and how you feel. Set a positive goal (and try to be real). Now for some “brainy” contributions, make out a list …
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Category: Building a Positive Family Environment Tags: Calming down, CASEL, Collaborative problem solving, Family problem solving, Identifying feelings, learning about feelings, practicing problem-solving, problem-solving skills, problem-solving with kids, Responsible decision-making, Roger Weissberg, Self awareness, Self-management, Social and Emotional Learning, social decision-making
”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 …
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Category: Building a Positive Family Environment Tags: Calm, Calming down, Coping strategies, dealing with stress, Deep breathing, kids and anxiety, Kids and stress, kids and test-taking strategies, Modeling, parents as models, physical symptoms of anxiety, physical symptoms of stress, Self awareness, Self-management, teachers as models, teaching kids to deal with stress, Testing anxiety, Testing stress
For Promoting Social and Emotional Skills in the Home or Classroom Mandy is having a tough day because each friend or relative she meets can’t play. But the narrator of this story asks good questions of Mandy to learn more. It turns out her friend got in trouble and wasn’t allowed to play. Another friend …
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Category: Building a Positive Family Environment Tags: "The Grit Up Series", Abbie Kelley, Care to repair, Empathy, negative self-talk, Relationship skills, Responsible decision-making, Self awareness, Self-management, Social and Emotional Learning, Social and emotional skill building, Social awareness
How Can You Help Your Five-Year-Old during the Major Adjustment to All-Day Kindergarten? “We have to go back every day?!” exclaims five-year-old Simon incredulously in the first week of kindergarten. I was reminded of when the nurse told me “only 20 more minutes of pushing and the baby should be out,” during drugless labor. It …
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Category: Building a Positive Family Environment Tags: adjusting to kindergarten, emotional kindergarteners, emotional meltdowns, Empathy, five-year-olds, kindergarten exhaustion, parent patience, parents dealing with kindergarten, Self control, Self-management, separation anxiety in kindergarten, transition to kindergarten, young children and hyperactivity, young children and self-control
“Everyone has butterflies when they are starting something new. Just make sure you visualize them flying in formation and you’ll be fine.” – My Dad, David Smith from a Dale Carnegie Public Speaking Course If you are a parent, you are likely in the middle of clothing and supply shopping preparing for the first day …
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Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve. – Roger Lewin Coaching can be a powerful way to help our children become more self-aware, understanding their thoughts and feelings and how they impact their behavior choices. It can also give them valuable practice in problem-solving and responsible decision making. Similar …
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Category: Building a Positive Family Environment Tags: "Coaching Skills; A Handbook", Active listening, coaching as parenting tool, Coaching with kids, Confidence, Confident Kids, Confident Parents, leadership coaching, Parent coaching, parents facilitating problem-solving, Problem solving, Responsible decision-making, Self awareness, Self-management, Sibling conflicts
“That’s mine!” Sophie heard her daughter scream at her younger sibling from the next room. As Sophie turned her attention to the unfolding scene, she saw her upset child swipe a doll out of the hands of her sister and hit her across the shoulder. What should Sophie do next? Young children, as they begin …
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Category: Building a Positive Family Environment Tags: Anger, Anger management, emotion regulation, Emotional vocabulary, Kids and anger, kids calming down, Managing anger, mindfulness and kids, parents and anger, Self-management, teaching kids about anger, teaching kids deep breathing, understanding anger
Check out this exceptional example of the use of social and emotional learning in high school from Edutopia (the George Lucas Educational Foundation). Though often early childhood and elementary school ages and stages are times we tend to focus on social and emotional learning, middle school, high school, and college-age students also require skill …
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Category: Building a Positive Family Environment Tags: Edutopia, family connection, family mindfulness, High school social and emotional learning, mindfulness and teens, parenting high school students, parenting teenagers, Relationship skills, Responsible decision-making, Self awareness, Self-management, Social and Emotional Learning, Social awareness
“Our Mom wasn’t like other Moms.” a twenty-something daughter of my mentor recalled. “As kids, when we were doing something crazy, she wouldn’t yell. She would get so quiet.” “And she moved really slowly.” added the thirty-something sister. “We called it her strange calm.” “And I guess it worked because we were weirded out by …
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Category: Building a Positive Family Environment, Practicing Social and Emotional Skills Tags: Breathing, Calming down, Dealing with misbehaviors, Emotional safety, Kids and chaos, Mom calm, Parent calm, Self discipline, Self-management, Strange calm
