Principal's Update
The same kind of approach makes sense for pretty much all learning. To become the capable, problem-solving people we want them to be, they need childhoods rich with experiences that stretched them out of their comfort zones, and showed them that they could succeed. But as educators and parents that want to protect our kids, finding this Goldilocks spot can be hard!
I came across the following story/tip from Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the City University of New York, and the author of Future Tense: Why Anxiety Is Good for You (Even Though It Feels Bad). It's all about productive struggle in social, anxiety-producing contexts. As debilitating anxiety is something that they're seeing in 30% of people prior to age 18, it's something important for all of us to be aware of. Enjoy!
Tip of the Week from Tracy Dennis-Tiwary
When my son, Kavi, left his math homework at school one day, he came to me in a panic. “What am I going to do?” he asked.
Together, we figured out that he could ask his friend to send a photo of the homework, and he would copy out the problems by hand. Problem solved, right? Wrong. He remained agitated.
Soon, I discovered what really worried him: He was afraid his teacher would see the forgotten homework on his desk at school and be upset with him the next morning. He begged me to email her to relieve his anxiety.
I wanted to help—what parent doesn’t want to make the hurt go away, especially when the solution was as simple as sending an email? And yet that would have been the wrong thing to do.
By the time kids turn 18, over 30% of them will have experienced debilitating anxiety—that’s around 20 million in the United States alone. A parent’s natural reaction is to try to stop the anxiety. For example, the family of an anxious child who fears flying in airplanes might limit vacations to only drivable locations.
Research shows that while avoiding anxiety-provoking situations may comfort anxious children in the moment, it prevents them from learning to cope in the long run. A new type of therapy called SPACE taught parents a better option: working through anxiety. For example, instead of allowing socially anxious children to stay home, parents gradually exposed them to challenging social situations and provided support. In the study, 87% of the children whose parents received the therapy showed less severe anxiety, an outcome as good as if children received therapy themselves.
I never sent that email to Kavi’s teacher. I tried to talk Kavi through his anxiety, but he still went to bed feeling restless and worried. I did, too. But the next day, he got an A+ on his homework along with a note: “Wonderful job figuring out how to get your homework done!”
Don’t try to protect young people from their anxiety by “fixing” the situation for them.
Do let kids sit with their anxieties and support them in coping. If your child has a spat with a friend or is worried about an upcoming test, listen and advise but don’t intervene. In facing these commonplace but difficult moments, children gain mastery over their anxiety—and that’s the key to feeling good.
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.
