“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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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
Practicing Mindfulness in Family Life The sun is nervous as a kite that can’t quite keep its own string tight. Some days are fair, and some are raw. The timid earth decides to thaw. Shy budlets peep from twigs on trees, and robins join the chickadees. Pale crocuses poke through the ground like noses come …
Category: Building a Positive Family Environment, Practicing Social and Emotional Skills Tags: Awareness, Breathing, Breathing to calm down, Discipline, Family mindfullness, Mindfullness, Mindfullness with kids, Presence, Self-management, Self-regulation, Spring Mindfulness
coping to maintain a contest or combat usually on even terms or with success to deal with and attempt to overcome problems and difficulties About Coping Skills: Though all babies are born with a brain rigged for the flight or fight survival instinct, the interpretation of sensory input determining what is a real threat does …
Category: Modeling Social and Emotional Skills, Practicing Social and Emotional Skills Tags: Bravery, Calming down, Coping skills, Coping strategies, Dealing with emotions, Emotion coaching, Emotional honesty, Kids and anger, Kids and family, Kids and stress, Parents and Coping, Self control, Self-management, Self-regulation
“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 it …
Category: Building a Positive Family Environment, Modeling Social and Emotional Skills Tags: Conflict, Constructive response, Emotional drama, Emotional safety plan, Escalation, Family stress, Impulse control, Nonviolent protest, Pause and reflect, Self discipline, Self-management, Sibling fighting, Silence, Strange calm, Strange calm technique, Tone of environment
The Universe is made of stories, not of atoms. – Muriel Rukeyser Rabbits and owls happen to be two of E’s favorite animals so when we read a story about a friendship between them, we were both eager for the tale. The good friends built their homes next door to one another but Owl couldn’t …
Category: Practicing Social and Emotional Skills Tags: Books with social and emotional themes, Children, Children's Literature and social and emotional learning, Discussion, Emotions, Friends, Making meaning, Mama Raccoon, Owl, Picture books, Rabbit, Reading with children, Relationship skills, Responsible decision-making, Self awareness, Self-identity, Self-management, Social awareness, Story books
Positive – good or useful – hopeful or optimistic 1 About Balanced Positive Thinking: It seems there is much debate about whether positive thinking actually leads to or deters from happiness and success. So positive thinking must be clearly defined. Advocates confirm that it can lead to positive health outcomes, skill development and goal …
Category: About, Practicing Social and Emotional Skills Tags: "Where the Sidewalk Ends", Balanced positive thinking, Confidence, Confident Kids, Goal achievement, Goal setting, Joy, Pathways to goals, Positive self-talk, Positive Thinking, Realism, Self-management, Sense of agency, Shel Silverstein
