Supporting parents and children during online learning

I am creating weekly videos for my current school to support parents and their Early Years and Primary aged children.  I will add videos here each week until we hit our summer break.  Hopefully, you will find them helpful.

This is video helps adults consider current life stressors and switching thinking to what we can control.

5-4-3-2-1 is a common grounding exercise used to support people struggling with anxiety.  This video is for children to watch and parents might like to help their children put this into practice (Halloran Coping skills for kids workbook: over 75 coping strategies to help kids deal with stress, anxiety and anger 35).

I run a course called Positive Discipline.  This is a refresher for parents about the importance of connecting with children before correcting them.  I also discuss the importance of children being able to label their feelings.

The following two videos are designed to help children label a common feeling they are experiencing and creating a thermometer to figure out what they look like as the feeling goes from mild to intense and what they can do when they are at each level of intensity to feel more in control.  Little ones will need help with this.

When we are struggling, we tend to scan for the negative; that's an important survival skill.  But, when our life is not in danger, sharing gratitude can help us shift our focus to the positive. 

Putting character strengths into action is a powerful way to help children and adults spiral upward.

Recently, you might notice a shift from positive to negative self-talk in your children and maybe even yourself. How do we make a shift?  (The top video is for children and the bottom one is for parents.)

Parents who are trying to help children leave, stay, or arrive at a school well might benefit from watching this video.

I've had parents ask about how to support children who are struggling to sleep and seem to be having vivid nightmares.  After talking about why this is normal, I share tips for helping your children (and you) get better sleep.

I've been asked how to set boundaries for device usage during this time. The approach should be the same regardless of the timing. The goal should be to teach children and teens to be problem-solvers and to believe that they have the capability to contribute to solutions for the good of the family.