5 Back to School Mindsets and Strategies for Grownups
Back to school brings up all the feels…for children and grownups. Your feels are real, and YOU deserve support. Here are 5 mindsets and strategies to support YOU during back to school.
Hold space for feelings
You may be elated to have your children back in the structure of school (and not with you 24/7). Yeah! You may be dreading the change in routine and responsibility. Boo! Whatever you are feeling is ok. Here’s a resource to help you with Holding Space for all the feels, and I’m here to support little learners and coach parents and teachers!
Get support from other adults
Be mindful of how you talk about your feelings in front of or with your children. Having honest conversations with children about COVID protocols, lunch menus, and carpool buddies is healthy. Having adult conversations about your big feelings, including fear, stress, anger, and being elated to get away from your kids, is not healthy in front of children. Holding your emotion while navigating their own may be too much for children. So take care of you, and get support from other adults.
Normalize challenges
You can do hard things (doing hard things comes with a soundtrack!). Normalizing challenges, rather than hiding them or hiding from them, helps put them in perspective. Challenges are ok! Facing them, and asking for support to do so, are what help us grow. My little learners and I talk about something being a “good challenge” rather than “too hard.” When the unexpected happens, we practice being patient and flexible. It's all about perspective. How you speak about and respond to challenges teaches our children so much!
Learn from mistakes
The truth is we are all making it up as we go, so mistakes are a given. You, your child, and the school will make mistakes. Those mistakes will not make you, your child, or schools failures. Instead, mistakes will be proof of the courage to try and willingness to learn. Get curious about what worked, what didn't, and why before you get accusatory toward yourself or others.
Give grace and allow new beginnings
The past does not determine the future, and we all deserve a fresh start. Just because your child struggled last year does not mean they will struggle this year. Just because communication with the school was bumpy last year doesn't mean you and the school can't be accountable to each other this year. Let's give ourselves, our children, and our schools the grace to start anew. It won't be perfect, and it will messy because most new beginnings are.
Listen in as Zoie Hoffman, creator of Hoffman Tutoring Group, and I get real about all the feels and how mindset can set grownups and children up for success for back to school.
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