Editorial:
Dear Parents and Carers of Good Samaritan,
Last night Good Samaritan parents were invited to a webinar hosted by Dr Adam Fraser. During this webinar Adam spoke about the importance of allowing our children to struggle as they strive in their lives.
By being able to guide our children through struggle and discomfort we actually lead them to a place of being able to strive. Dr Fraser spoke about 4 main points that don’t support children to grow:
- Society values things being easy
- We think struggle is bad for us
- We don’t talk about failure
- The rise of the ‘Lawnmower’ parent (Parents who make sure the road is clear and free of obstacles for their children)
Struggle is good when it is controlled; when children are acknowledged for the emotions they are feeling within the experience. A huge part of this is through the conversations that we have with our children.
Adam presented a model for the conversations that we have with our children. This is known as the ‘4H Model’. It involves 4 areas that I will explore over the coming weeks in our newsletters. The ‘4H Model’ is made up of:
Heart: the phase of recognising the emotions
Head: where we bring the logic into the conversation
Hands: the action phase - strategies to try to go forward
Hi Five: Reflection phase - What growth was achieved and what characteristics were displayed?
A huge part of understanding the behaviour of children, and ourselves for that matter, comes from understanding and reading our own emotions and the emotions of others. Have you ever thought about what the phrase ‘Flip your lid’ actually means? Dr Dan Siegal explains in this short video what is happening in our brain when our ‘lids flip’. It works to help us understand how our emotions actually work and why they can be overwhelming.
I hope that those parents who were able to attend the session took some great tips for conversations that will work to support your children through the struggle so that they can strive. I look forward to sharing more with you as the term progresses,
As we journey together, with Jesus,
Toni Sillis
Principal