This is an interesting topic. At what age should a child start learning to be responsible? I suspect there are many differing views on this topic. Continue reading Responsibility
Fear
Our Struggles With ”Fear” & Can We Overcome Them?
Fear as described by www.dictionary.com – “a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.”
The fear response is triggered in the most primitive part of the brain, the amygdala and is said to be the most powerful emotion known to mankind. Fear is, first and foremost a survival mechanism. When we are under threat the “fear response” will cause our adrenaline to rise, our heart to beat faster, and our breathing to become short and quick, getting us ready for fight or flight.
Now, the problem is when we are experiencing a change, or trying Continue reading Fear
Belief Systems-What Are Yours?
“The quality of your thoughts determines the quality of your life.”
Understanding how your mind works is the secret behind why some people live happy, fulfilling lives-a life of their dreams, while others seem to struggle-never quite achieving the life they imagined or dreamed of.
We are all born with greatness in us and along the way, well-meaning people impart their belief systems on us as to what is possible or not.
Belief systems are the programs we are running in our mind, they are what we believe about ourselves, our world, and how everything works, it’s what we think is right or wrong and true or false about life. Some examples of beliefs are: “I’m smart”, “People like me!”, “I’m too old or too young to start a business”, “I don’t think I can”, “Life is tough”, “You have to work hard to make a living”, It’s always been that way”…. Our beliefs directly impact how we feel about ourselves (our self-esteem) and what we can accomplish in our lives (our self-confidence). Continue reading Belief Systems-What Are Yours?
Talking to Your Kids About Grades
School is Back in Session
Wow, can you believe summer holidays are over already? I hope you and your children had an amazing summer.
Now, it’s back to school for the kids and of course we all want our children to do well. Getting your kids to do their homework, study for tests and in general enjoy school can be quite a task. As parents, we can inadvertently put excess pressure on our children by how we give praise for their good grades and when the grades aren’t so good the language we use for motivation. I would like to offer a tool on giving feedback to your kids without the pressure.
How to talk with your kids about grades
School is in session and that means…GRADES!
Whether your kids tend to earn A’s, B’s, C’s, or F’s, kids often define “who they are” based on the grades they receive.
“I’m an A-student”
“I’m not very smart”
“I’m an average student”
Unfortunately, when kids label themselves based on grades, it can have a negative impact on their self-esteem – even for “A-students”. Why? Continue reading Talking to Your Kids About Grades
Kids in Action
Self-Esteem & Self-Confidence
Here are some children I worked with on units involving –
- Power Shifting – based on the concept that events are neutral-either good or bad based on the meaning we choose to assign to them.
- Self-Talk – refers to what we say to ourselves – both verbally and through our thoughts.
- I Love Me! – developing soaring self-esteem. Facing the world with a belief system of “I am worthy” versus “I am not worthy”.
- I Believe in Me! – developing unstoppable self-confidence. Facing the world with a belief system of “I can” versus “I can’t”.
- Overcoming Mistakes – how to learn from mistakes and let them go.
- Managing Change – how to embrace change and thrive.
I read them a story involving each of the units, discussed the stories with thought provoking questions to get the kids perspective on what their ideas were about each of the character’s challenges in the story, and we did art projects that they would keep to remind them of how to live lives with soaring self-esteem and self-confidence. We can give our children many things. Self-esteem and self-confidence isn’t something we give them, but we can teach them how to develop it in themselves. At the end of each unit I gave the parents a re-cap sheet on what their children covered, with the tools and tips to continue working with their children when negative attitudes and self-talk surface.
