1. On Managing Negative Feelings
How to guide children in managing destructive and negative feelings?
"Why? Often the ability to care for others is overwhelmed by anger, shame, envy, or other negative feelings.
How? We need to teach children that all feelings are okay, but some ways of dealing with them are not helpful. Children need our help learning to cope with these feelings in productive ways.
Try this
Here’s a simple way to teach your kids to calm down: ask your child to stop, take a deep breath through the nose and exhale through the mouth, and count to five. Practice when your child is calm. Then, when you see her getting upset, remind her about the steps and do them with her. After a while she’ll start to do it on her own so that she can express her feelings in a helpful and appropriate way." (Amy Joyce's "Are you raising nice kids? A Harvard psychologist gives 5 ways to raise them to be kind" in the Washington Post)
Check out this interview with Richard Weissbourd, a Harvard psychologist working on Harvard's Making Caring Common Project. He also discusses how to teach your child to care for others and develop gratitude.
2. On Crying
Is your child crying? It's healthy - you can help them by:
"Teach(ing) them coping strategies. Deep breathing, statements such as “I can do this,” taking a break from the activity and asking for help are all ways kids can overcome frustration. If a child is having trouble controlling tears at school, suggest he put his head down on the desk (with the teacher’s permission) and count to 10 to get the tears under control. This gives him a plan when the tears spring up, and a way to regain his composure." (Sarah Hamaker's "How to help your child cope with tears that come too easily" in the Washington Post)
Check out the article to learn more about coping strategies and how to help your child problem solve.
3. On Montessori
Montessori schooling produces children with better math and science scores, develops creativity and a "sense of community and social skills."
This article gives 10 ways you can bring Montessori into your own home.
We especially like #6:
"6 | “Imitation is the first instinct of the awakening mind.”
Children learn best through observation and imitation.
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Propose hands-on experiences to your child. For instance, she can start her own garden.
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Let your child help.
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Give your child opportunities to play with real-life objects, such as grains, rice, beans, etc.)"(Sanya Pelini's "10 Montessori Quotes to Help Adopt a Holistic Approach to Parenting" in Parent.co)
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