Under Eights Week

Under Eights Week is an initiative of Early Childhood Australia and has been celebrated for more than 60 years. The theme this year is: Celebrating the diversity of languages within the home, culture and community. At Pacific, our Kindy to Year 2 students will celebrate Under Eights Week on Thursday 30^th May, from 9.00am to 10.00am.

Please come along and join us for a morning of fun and laughter as we celebrate early childhood. For information regarding activities and what to wear on the day, please refer to Mrs Shelley Hogan’s letter, which was sent home last week.

As part of their ongoing professional development, all Prep – Year 5 staff undertook a You Can Do It Education in-service led by Mrs Sarah Atkinson last week. Each week, students have timetabled lessons on the You Can Do It foundations of Getting Along, Confidence, Persistence, Organisation and Resilience. One of the focus topics discussed last week was the importance of developing emotional resilience in children.

Developing Emotional Resilience In Children

Emotional resilience is essential in our daily lives, especially when we encounter confrontations with difficult people, make wrong choices, get bad results, experience negative situations that are beyond our control and undertake tasks that we find boring, difficult or consider a waste of time. As adults we generally face such difficulties with varying levels of resilience. Teaching children the skills to support the development of resilience is an important facet of growth and development.

Generally, it is not a negative event that causes us to feel down or worried but rather how we think about the event. Negative habits of mind greatly fuel emotional discomfort. These negative habits of mind include self-downing, the need to be perfect, the need for approval, the ‘I can’t do it’ or ‘I can’t be bothered’ mindset and being intolerant of others. Eliminating these negative mindsets can be challenging. Over the next few weeks I would like to share some strategies from the You Can Do It Program, which may help eliminate or balance these negative mindsets.

To Eliminate ‘Self-Downing’

Explain to children that they are made up of many characteristics – some good and some not so good. Have children come up with five good things about their skills, talents and personality and five things that could be improved on. You can help children if they get stuck. Then, you should explain that because they possess good qualities, it doesn’t make sense to think ‘I’m hopeless’ when something bad happens. Instead, encourage them to think, “When a bad thing happens, I do not lose my good points. I am still me, capable and likeable”.

Parents can also assist their children to eliminate the tendency of self-downing by:

• Showing interest and excitement about non-curricular areas of your child’s skills, interests and personal strengths.
• Exposing your child to a variety of extra-curricular activities where they are likely to be successful.
• Keeping a record with your child of all of their positive characteristics.
• Acknowledging your child when they display emotional resilience.
• Modelling positive behavior when something bad happens by sharing your thinking out-loud (e.g. “I wasn’t elected to be on the committee. While this is disappointing, I will not put myself down, after all, I’m still me, a capable and likeable person”).

Being emotionally resilient helps us to stay on top of a situation emotionally, rather than letting it take control of us.

Mr David Druery, Head of Staff and Students P-5