We’re busy people. And we’ve passed this busy attitude on to our kids. We rush around from one thing to the next. From one year to the next, without ever stopping to reflect and take stock of where we are and where we want to go.
The new school year is a great time for setting goals and thinking about what we want from life and how to get it, but we cannot possibly do this if we’re still dragging around all the baggage from the previous year.
Help your kids to start this year with a clean slate, and to get into the habit of doing this regularly so that their emotional cups are not full to overflowing as they tackle the new challenges of a new school year.
– – – A new school year – – –
Here’s how to help your children to get the most from this new year…
- Help your children to make a list of everything wonderful that happened in the past year. Get them to jot down (or draw pictures) of all their achievements. Include things they learned, friends they made, things that happened that made them feel excited or alive. Also, make sure to add the fun times, wins, beautiful moments, etc. It is always nice to start with the positive. Too often we’re so caught up in the negative that we don’t realize that every year has both good and bad. Help your kids to acknowledge some of the good and to give themselves a good hearty pat on the back!
- Then look at things that could’ve gone slightly better. Perhaps there were some dramas they could have done without. Maybe some areas that needed improvement, things that if they did them again, they’d like to do differently. The focus here is not on the negative. Instead on what can be learned and how this can be applied in the new year.
- Finally look at the bad stuff – those things they wish had never happened. Now with these, you need to help them to neutralize the negative emotions associated with these events. Grab a nice big sheet of paper and some coloured markers and start brainstorming all the good that came out of these ‘negative’ events. Find out what they learned, how it helped them to grow, what hidden gifts were lurking in there. Don’t stop looking for positives until your child is feeling truly grateful for the experience.
Move into a new school year with a sense of completion.
If we try to just race into the next year without taking stock, we bring that negativity and resistance and fear into the year right from the start. Think about how many kids have had a terrible, nasty teacher. They may have allowed that one experience to mark their experience of school forever. If you approach the next year and the next teacher assuming that it will be a repeat of what was, or not learning the lesson that was tied up in that experience, then you set yourself up for more of the same.
Help your kids to have realistic expectations of the year ahead. Remind them that every year has successes and challenges. That if they find the greater meaning in the ‘bad’ times, then every year is a celebration of life.
If you are still carrying baggage from your past or you need some guidance on helping your child to move on, get in touch. Mia Von Scha is a Transformational Parenting Coach and children’s author. She is focused on helping parents to be the change they want to see in their kids.
About the author
Mia Von Scha is a Transformational Parenting Coach, a motivational speaker, an author of inspirational children’s books, a mother to two beautiful girls, and a lover of life. Her alternative approach to parenting and life has also been featured in numerous television, radio and magazine interviews.
– – – A new school year – – –
