Entering a new school year, Whitmore-Bolles is beginning its third year as a Leader In Me School. The school at large has chosen to further implement the eight habits by focusing on one of the habits every month. As the school year unfolds, we will strive to integrate all the habits as they are added month by month. School is a great place for your child to work on developing healthy habits and leadership roles. We are excited to see students implement these habits and progress over the school year. However, we cannot do it alone. As a parent, you can help further develop these skills by encouraging these habits at home.
September: Habit #1 Be Proactive
For the month of September, we are starting from the top with Habit #1: Be Proactive. Being proactive means taking responsibility for your own choices and behaviors. Students are learning to gain control over their own thoughts, feelings, and emotions, while assuming responsibility for their actions. Proactivity involves control over one’s reactions. In comparison to a bottle of water, a bottle of soda will fizz and explode when shaken vigorously. Students are encouraged to act like the bottle of water when encountering a difficult task, a mean remark, or an unexpected outcome, instead of exploding like the bottle of soda.
As adults, we also need to be proactive by monitoring our reactions. A long work day, a defiant child, transportation issues, and a spilled cup of coffee are only a few of the common difficulties many frequently encounter. Just like these students are learning, we can only control ourselves and our reactions to these events. Mindful parenting is a term used to encourage parents to understand your own thoughts and emotions before reacting to a situation. Susan Kaiser Greenland address this topic in her book, The Mindful Child. She stresses the importance of taking time to recognize what is going on within you in order to better understand what is happening to you. This is an awesome book if you are looking for practical ways to use mindfulness in your home, while improving your child’s behavior. Children are perceptive. By modeling proactive habits in your home, they will learn to better monitor their own emotions and react in a way that positively involves everyone around them. In this way, you will teach them to be leaders by leading by example.
Putting it to Practice:
- Saying you’re sorry: Being proactive means taking responsibility. Encourage your child to take responsibility for their actions and apologize accordingly. Take time to lead by example by saying you’re sorry when you may have reacted inappropriately to or around your child. In this way, your child will learn to apologize by watching you.
- Role play: Take on the role of a classmate or a teacher. Help your child navigate their thoughts and emotions in response to common issues of bullying, sharing, differences in opinion, and teacher expectations.
- Do something fun: Enjoy the beautiful weather and do something fun. Take your child to the park, go out for lunch, or meet another family for a play date. Interacting with your child outside of the home will give you opportunities to continue to model proactive behavior, while spending quality time together.
The Mindful Child https://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Child-Manage-Happier-Compassionate/dp/1416583009/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317654802&sr=1-1
Submitted By: Allison DeMaagd, Social Worker Intern
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