Friendships are such a wonderful and special part of life. From memory making to going through the highs and lows with your peers makes life so much richer. As a child, learning social skills and how friendships fit is a huge learning curve as they go through their childhood and find their ‘people’. As a parent, how do you connect and how do you teach your kids basic social skills and about what a great friendship can be?
Today Janine is joined by Caroline Maguire and in this episode they discuss:
How do we teach our children social and emotional awareness in a fun and play filled way? Eventually our children will become adults so when they walk out into the world, we want them to step into their lives as aware and in control of their emotions as possible.
In this episode we discuss:
The transition to preschool to elementary school can be such an anxious time for both parents and for the children. There’s a lot of unknowns to get them ready for and sometimes we think there’s lots we have to do to prepare them for starting. Today we discuss what you can do to help reduce anxiety for your little one with nursery practitioner, Caroline Allen.
In this episode they discuss:
Summer vacation is coming up for us (only 2 more weeks until school is done!) and I’ve been thinking about how to help the kids get along. Recently, there’s been a lot of picking on each other, and typical sibling squabbles. But my concern is that when they’re both home all day long that it’s going to get a little more intense. I want them to realize that they can enjoy each other’s company and not be combative with one another.
You’ve taken the time to set up a playdate. You found a potential friend, you invited them to play at your house or at a playground and things are going really well. Then, something unexpected happens. Maybe it’s an argument, yelling, or even hitting (eek!!). What do you do?
As you may know, this week is Teacher Appreciation Week. I have always been surrounded by teachers. Both of my parents were educators - my mother was a kindergarten and 1st grade teacher and my dad was a teacher and administrator in a high school. Growing up, I loved school and I loved my teachers. I have fond memories of one teacher in particular - Mrs. O’Neill. She taught me for both 4th and 5th grade. This is my thank you letter to her.
When we traveled this summer, I kept our toy bag quite limited. I challenged myself to work with everyday items to use as toys for the kids when we were there. I even made a Pinterest Board with easy activities to do while traveling. Once we got settled, I took inventory of what was ready in the condo and went shopping for other basic items. One of the first projects we made were coffee filter sun catchers, very easy because we had coffee filters in the condo.
You Are a Social Detective is a great introduction to Michelle Garcia Winner’s Social Thinking, written especially for kids who struggle in social situations. The book is divided into 3 different sections. Whenever I use this book as a teaching tool, I read one section at a time.
The first section focuses on having different kinds of smarts, including school smarts and social smarts. It discusses how we use social smarts all the time, whenever we are around others. This is so important for kids to understand. You need to be using your social smarts anytime you’re around others. This section also focuses on expected behaviors and the consequences of those actions. If we do things that are expected, other people feel good and want to be around us more.
As a school counselor, I often had kids come into my office in a heightened state, and it was my job to be able to help them calm down and get back to work in class. I had lots of items in my room to help achieve that. It’s always easier for kids to talk about what’s bothering them when they’re doing another activity or playing a game. As a mom, I know that there are lots of things that can help my kids reset when they are having a hard time, or getting into arguments or just have on their cranky pants. Here are some of my favorite items to help kids calm down and get back to the green zone.
My daughter loves to dance, and for years she kept asking if she could take lessons. Finally, when she was in Kindergarten I signed her up for a local tap, jazz and ballet class. I found a great small business that was right around the corner from us. This place seemed perfect! The teacher, Ms. Amy, is wonderful and she sets a very relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. She even keeps extra tap and ballet shoes we can use. It’s so thoughtful. We’ve been going ever since. The classes are small, and both years the dance teacher’s daughter has been in my daughter’s class. The teacher and I have become friendly over time, chatting about our kids, schools, etc.
The Zones of Regulation were created by Leah Kuypers; it’s another great tool to help kids learn self-regulation skills. This framework is designed to help kids notice what they are thinking and feeling, how their thoughts and feelings affect their behavior and learn to self-regulate. I absolutely love teaching the Zones of Regulation to kids. It’s such a great visual for them to see what zone their feelings are in and learn ways to get back to the green zone.
My kids LOVE Mo Willems books. They laugh so hard and so loudly at the characters. The books are hilarious! We started with Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus and then we got Today I Will Fly.
When we traveled to Toronto this past summer, we found a wonderful babysitter. She’s an educator, and during the interview, she and I talked about how much the kids loved the library, but we wouldn’t be in town long enough to qualify for a card. The first night she babysat for us, she showed up with a bunch of books from the library that she took out on her own card. It was such a kind gesture, and the kids read and re-read all those books for the two weeks we had them.
