The clear weather has seen our basketball courts and playing fields filled every lunchtime as students make the most of the opportunity to exercise their bodies and their minds. We love seeing every student not only developing new sporting skills, but the attitudes they need to find success and fulfillment off the field.  Let's keep encouraging our children to be active, even as the weather starts to turn!

I was recently reading a really interesting book on children and anxiety, and the author raised a topic I have observed over many years. It is called Asynchronous Development. We often read about it in the context of gifted children, but I think it has a far wider application.

I can remember thinking as a high school teacher that the young person standing before me is physically 17 years old, probably of a similar age in academic development, but is nowhere near that in their emotional or social development. I think there can be similar challenges for our younger children as well. They may be 8 years old in years, performing academically at the expectations we would have of a 10 year old, but displays the emotional characteristics of a 6 year old.

Every child is different and so there are all sorts of possibilities here, but you get the idea.

It is really interesting that as a parent, I was very comfortable with the idea that if my child needed some extra tutoring or help academically, I felt quite comfortable with that. But the mention of my child possibly benefiting from some social or emotional support, made me feel a little less at ease. It was almost as if it was some sort of reflection on me as a parent, or that we were somehow dysfunctional as a family. As I look at the concept of our children developing through life, I do not view it that way any longer, or take it so personally. There will be times when our children may need extra help from other professionals with their speech, or their hearing, or eyesight, or learning, and I think it important that we ask this question first, “What is best for this child?”, rather than defaulting, as I have done at times, to willing them to be “normal”.

I found the following helpful as we guide our children through some of the emotional challenges our current social situation throws at our kids. I hope you enjoy it.

“The pandemic has delivered change and upheaval to families on an enormous scale. However upheaval is not new for some children, particularly those who’ve experienced illness, a loss of a loved one or who’ve moved home and changed schools. Each change requires acceptance, adjustment, and an attitude realignment to help them fit the new circumstances. Every change is an opportunity for a child to grow and develop, if they are supported, and they’re not overwhelmed by the experience.

 

The twists and turns of development

A child’s pathway to adulthood, and the accompanying journey of their parents, is generally viewed as linear. Growing up is seen as a straightforward march from infancy, early childhood, childhood, adolescence, post-adolescence to adulthood. If COVID has taught us anything it’s that a child’s journey is full of twists and turns.

While your child has a developmental clock that keeps ticking over, it’s their experiences that determine their maturity and their ability to reach fully-fledged adulthood with the resilience, grit and adaptability needed to thrive. These experiences that develop maturity and coping capacities fit into two broad areas – challenging experiences and positive experiences.

Challenging Experiences

The challenging experiences that a child encounters enable them to build their coping capacities and develop their emotional resources that contribute to their maturity. These challenges include:

Conflict

Disagreements, arguments and rivalry is part of growing up. Whether it’s a dispute with siblings or a fallout with a friend, negotiating conflict is a developmental task.

Rejection

Rejection by a friend or group is hurtful and feels horrible, but it also builds a level of social smarts and judgement necessary for navigating relationships in later life.

Loss

This takes many forms including a friend moving away, the death of a pet or the passing of a family member. Loss is the cause of sadness, grief and heartbreak that can feel overwhelming. However, with time and support kids learn to cope and get on with their lives.

Disappointment

Losing a game, not being picked for a team, not receiving a gift they wanted are unpleasant but character-building experiences that help kids develop perhaps the most treasured resilience capability of them all – acceptance.

Failure

Mistakes are seen in three ways. They are activities to be avoided, signs of failure, or opportunities for further learning. Resilient learners know that mistakes, even initial failures, are part of every learning process so the risk of failure doesn’t hold them back. Children and young people grow from these experiences as coping and recovery generally build character, confidence and resilience.

Positive experiences

Though children and young people will inevitably experience challenging experiences, positive experiences help to balance the experience ledger by building a child’s identity, wellbeing and emotional collateral.

Love

Knowing that a child is loved and loveable is at the core of their self-worth. Self-esteem and identity built in adolescence needs a solid foundation of self-worth.

Friendship

Making and keeping friends is an essential life task linked to many aspects of happiness and wellbeing.

Contribution

The ability to belong to groups through contribution fulfils a basic need. It allows children to experience real gratitude and feel needed, which builds self-esteem.

Excitement

Fun, joy, excitement! Any activity that shifts a child’s emotion from unpleasant, low energy to pleasant and high energy is a good thing.

Play

Involvement in enjoyable activities such as hobbies, interests, sports, music, games, creative and performance arts are central to healthy wellbeing. Activities that are fun, freely chosen and create flow (the ability to lose track of time) fit the criteria of play.

In closing

A child’s age and related milestones is a recognised marker of their development. However, their life experiences, as much as the number of birthdays they’ve had, contribute to their maturity, resilience and readiness for the wider world.” (Grose, 2022)

Have a great Harmony Week with your kids,

Mark B

Hey Prescott Family,

Have you ever experienced the joy that comes when you lose something valuable and then find it again?  Whether it’s your car keys, or wedding ring, or even the TV remote, there’s a great elation that happens when we find something that was lost.

This is exactly how God feels about us when He loses us, and then He finds us again.  In Luke 15, Jesus tells a story about a shepherd who had one hundred sheep but then he loses one.  Jesus explains that the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine sheep to go looking for the one, and when he finds it, he puts it on his shoulders and carries it back home. 

When the shepherd gets back, he calls his friends and neighbours to come and celebrate with him.  Jesus then goes on to say:

Luke 15:7

I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

We have all drifted from God at times, but the great news is that when this happens God will always come looking for us.  And when He finds us, He celebrates.  Because nothing brings God and all of heaven more joy, than when one of His children returns to Him. 

So, as you go about your business today, know that God loves you, and that He is always with you.

God bless,

 

Roland Tamaivao-Amituanai

Free Webinar: Building Lasting Happiness in Children

When you ask parents what they want for their kids, by far the most common reply is “I just want them to be happy”.

And though this desire goes hand-in-hand with such things as good health, an education and a safe place to call home, happiness is a really difficult area for parents to navigate or seek assistance with.

Nobody denies the importance of happiness, but how many of us have ever been shown how to model and implement it?

As part of the Prescott Primary Northern community, you are invited to join Dr Jodi Petereson’s Building Lasting Happiness in Children webinar for FREE (normally $39).

You are encouraged to join in to learn how lifelong happiness stems from how we think and what we do, rather than from what we have.

See the PDF below for details on how to join for free:

Foundation Enrolments 2023

Enrolments for 2023 Foundations are almost FULL. If you have a younger child starting school in 2023, please contact the Front Office as soon as possible for an Application Form.

Naplan Information

1/2 Day for Parent Teacher Interviews