The summer holiday gives children time to play, explore and connect with loved ones. But, summer also means lots of free time. As a parent, I’m always torn between scheduling activities or giving my girls free rein.
But this dilemma gives us a chance to teach our children valuable life skills.
Over the summer months, I’ll be sharing ideas on how to cultivate your child’s life skills. From my seventeen years of teaching experience, I’ve seen children flourish when they develop these skills.
June & July
Self-Awareness – How do I help my child reflect on their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors?
August
Optimism – How do I help my child maintain a positive outlook for the next school year?
Self-Awareness is critical to your child’s success in school and relationships with others. Self-awareness helps your child persevere through frustration at school and work out conflict in their friendships with others.
In my work with children who have difficulty reading, one way I help my students cultivate their self-awareness is by asking reflective questions on thoughts, emotions, and behaviors:
Why did you go back and re-read that word (behavior)?
What can you do when you start to feel frustrated (emotion)?
What strategies do you use when you get stuck on a word (thoughts)?
So how could you use reflection questions at home? Here is one idea you could try when your child says they are bored.
For younger children, offer a choice:
What would you like to do today, go to the pool or play with friends?
For older children, you might ask:
How would you like to spend your time today?
For both age groups, you could have your child create an I’m Bored List.
Self-awareness is a crucial skill to help children overcome challenges in school and life. Download my 5 Tips to Help your Child Read and Build Confidence to see how I incorporate self-awareness into my reading programs.