I subscribe to the Australian Principal Federation (APF) and as such am afforded a broad range of professional reading and resources to build my own leadership knowledge and practices. I found the following pearls of wisdom in the most recent newsletter and felt that it may be of interest to our Featherbrook families, being commensurate with our school values and our approach to building respectful and caring relationships. Enjoy!
Model Gratitude
Instead of pestering your children with questions such as,
"How was school?" and, "What did you do today?", teach them to reframe their day.
The following is a game I learned from a friend, who played it with his daughter over dinner. Everyone must answer three questions:
1) What did someone do today to make you happy?
2) What did you do to make someone else happy?
3) What have you learned today?
I love this simple exercise for how it helps us all find the positive in every day. It teaches gratitude, nurtures optimism, and recognises kindness. It doesn’t matter what may have happened at work or school, or how stressed any of us may have felt when we sat down at the table; the whole mood seems to lift once we’ve played this game. I learn things about my kids that they’d probably never have thought to tell me otherwise. Try it. It might just become the highlight of your day.
Acknowledgement:
Principal’s Digest May 2019, Six Ways To Raise a Resilient Child, Dr Rangan Chat-terjee, author of the Stress Solution
