Principal's Update
Most of us have said something like, "OK then, I guess I'll leave you here" when our kids were little and taking forever to get going. Turns out, we don't mean it. I have yet to see a 5 year old left behind at a grocery store.
As kids grow, in the heat of the moment, we find ourselves frustrated and say things like, "That's it! I'm throwing your video games away!" Or, "I'm cancelling your birthday party!" I've been working with kids for a long time, and I've rarely seen anyone actually follow through with these consequences. The problem with this is that while kids may initially react to the strength of our message, over time they learn that we don't mean what we say.
Consequences are an important part of learning, but it can be surprisingly difficult to find ones that really make a difference. Here are a few tips for developing meaningful consequences--ones that will help kids to do differently in the future.
- Say what you mean, and mean what you say. For example, if you're not going to actually cancel a playdate, don't say that you will. Only offer things that you know you can actually enforce.
- Make it match: consequences are more meaningful if they are logical. If a child makes a mess, they might have to clean it up, and do some extra cleaning. If they said hurtful things to someone, they might have to spend time doing nice things for others. If they've been untruthful, they might lose some trust, and require more checks than they previously had.
- Take time to think if you need it. We don't always have the perfect consequence at our fingertips. It's OK to say, "That wasn't OK. I'm going to have to think about what consequence should be." Kids can often do a great job helping to identify their own consequences, too.
All kids are bound to make mistakes; afterall, mistakes are critical for learning, and learning is what childhood is all about. When we use consequences as a way to help kids learn rather than to express our disapproval, we maximize the chances that they'll learn from their mistakes.
Attendance
If you walk or drive your child to school, please arrive with plenty of time. If students do not eat breakfast, they should be walking in the doors by 8:40 to ensure that they're ready to go.
If your child does eat breakfast, it's important that you get them here close to 8:30.
Reading Challenge--Help your child not miss out!
It's not to late to get your child signed up!
If you haven't helped your child log-in yet, you can find the website HERE (Scroll to Beanstack). This is a video tutorial. A PDF with basics is also linked below.
Your child's log-in is the last 2 digits of their graduation year, their first initial, and last name. Their password is Gsd##### (lunch number). For information on how to find these this information, watch THIS VIDEO.
Raise $ for Our Students by Doing What You'd Normally Do
Many of you shop on Amazon. Did you know that you can earn money for Edgewood's Home and School Association while doing it? You can give more $ to your child's school by doing what you'd do anyway!
1) Go to smile.amazon.com
2) Search for your charity: Edgewood Home and School Association, Inc."
3) This only works from the desktop site, not from the app.
