......and it's back to school!
Time to focus on empowering your kids to apply what they've learnt over the holidays
Going back to school can be a struggle for some children and teens but I’d like to give you a few pointers that might help.
Their point of refernece will be memories of school from before the summer holidays but for children that 6 week break can in fact equip them by building skills and qualities, confidence and resilience for the new term.
Start by creating a vision board with them.
Sellotape two pieces of A4 coloured card together to create a background.
Turn off the TV or other distractions and maybe put some quiet mood music on. I usually ask Alexa to play ‘spa music’ when I do vision boards with kids.
Ask them to think about the new term at school and imagine how they’d like it to be. Maybe suggest they think about what words they’d use, such as fun, friendly, playful, interesting. If they mention phrases like ‘not boring’ or ‘not scary’ ask them to find words that are positive. So ask what ‘the word for ‘not scary’ might be.
It can be helpful to ask them what they enjoyed about the summer holidays and name those words. What might those words look like in the school environment. How can aspects of what they’ve loved over the summer be applied at school?
Use this preparation time to also ask them
what they think they’ve learnt over the summer holidays,
what challenges have they overcome,
what skills have they acquired,
what confidence have they gained
on a scale of 1-10 how confident and resilient do they feel now and how does that compare with the end of last term
Now get some magazines and scissors and glue and ask them to look through the magazines and cut out any words or images that remind them of these feelings. Let them add in their own drawings or doodles or print images off from their computer. Maybe they’d like to add a playlist?
Once they feel they have completed the task they can glue their pictures on their card.
Put it up in their bedroom to remind them of these feelings every morning as they get ready for school. They might also like to have a photo of it for their phone.
I do a vision board every January to reflect on how I want to ‘be’ in the year, where I want to put my energy and focus and what is important to me that needs to be there in order for me to be happy and to be ‘me’.
The focus for this exercise can continue as you encourage them to think about how they’ve grown up over the last 6 weeks and what positive things you’ve noticed about them.
Taking on new responsibilities aids confidence so if last term you made their packed lunch or you washed their PE kit, maybe suggest they’d like to mark this new term by taking on some new responsibility. When we as mums, do everything, it can make children dependent and powerless when you’re actually looking for them to take more responsibility each term, to build confidence and independence. There’s not much children can take responsibility for so any small steps you take will help to give them autonomy.
My book ‘Empower your Kids!’ has a general section at the front and then chapters on helping empower your children and teens in specific areas such as anxiety, self-esteem and so on.