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Sound Discipline Parenting Newsletter
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Ideas to Help Support Families in Our Community
Right now, our community is facing really big challenges, and we want to offer some ideas to support your family. Below are some things you can do while your kids aren’t in school to help them feel safe and continue practicing social emotional skills at home.
You can help your child make sense of the situation and reduce worry. Just like the coronavirus, fear and stress are also “contagious”. We all get stressed when we encounter things that are unexpected or experience interruptions to our daily routines. It is even more stressful when those events seem to threaten our livelihood or the wellbeing of people we love. Here are some things to try:
- As adults it is important to manage our own stress to buffer and protect the children around us.
- Take care of yourself. Breathe fresh air, do something that brings you joy, say “yes” to an offer of help.
- Tell the truth.
- Make sure young people know that (unless they are significantly immune compromised) they are at low risk for getting really sick, but we all need to be careful because we can spread the disease. For most people who get the virus it feels like a cold or the flu.
- We can be helpers by:
- Washing our hands well (with soap, both sides and for 20 seconds… sing “Happy Birthday twice or play another favorite short song)
- Covering our mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing, then throw the tissue in the trash and wash hands
- Helping our neighbors (Let’s be kind to each other)
- Staying home if we are sick
- Paying attention to the health department guidelines
Practice SEL skills at home. Changes to routines are stressful for children. Here are some ideas for helping children manage stress and continue to practice the social and emotional skills they’re learning in school.
- Ask your child what they have learned in school about ways to calm down when they have big feelings?
Help children name their feelings, and model naming your own feelings. Naming feelings helps manage feelings…name it to tame it. Misbehavior is often how children express strong emotions when they don’t have the language or tools to express themselves in a helpful way.
Find ways to connect and do things together. This is a stressful time for adults and children, and anxiety is contagious. Take a media break and play a game, cook or bake together, get some fresh air, read aloud, write letters to friends and family. How does your family connect?
Create a new routine for your family. How will your kids spend their time? Help your children make a visual chart of their new routine. Children need to feel a sense of significance (that their contributions matter), and their main job—going to school—has just been taken away. This can be unique to your family, but might include the following.
- What can they do that is about learning? – read a book, write a journal, play a math game.
- What can they do that involves movement? – take a walk, do some exercises, try yoga
- What can they do the involves contribution to the family?– clean or organize something, help take care of a sibling or pet, prepare a meal
- What can they do for fun? - learn a new skill, play outside, play a game.
Practice class meetings skills. In our class meetings, we practice giving compliments. Students will miss their classroom community and these kind of routines, and it may be helpful to give compliments with your family. Have your child teach you how. Typically we use the format, “__[Name]____, I’d like to compliment/appreciate you for __________________.” In class meetings, we pass an object around in a circle and each person gives a compliment. In families, each family member could give each other family member a compliment or appreciation.
We'll post resources on SEL, self-regulation activities and other helpful
resources on our Facebook and Twitter.
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Engage with Sound Discipline
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 Demonstration School Tours
We hold monthly tours at our partner schools, which is a great way to see our work first hand. Observe class meetings in action and listen to students and school staff talk about the impact of Sound Discipline in their school. These tours will be resumed as soon as it is safe to do so. Visit our website for more information, and email us if you'd like to be notified when we schedule the next tour.
Join Sound Discipline's Positive Discipline Practitioners Group!
This private Facebook group is for Positive Discipline practitioners trained by Sound Discipline. Connect and support one another by sharing resources and referrals, asking questions, and helping to promote one another's services.
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