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signewhitson
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Posts by signewhitson
October Coffee with the Counselor Resource List
06 years
by signewhitson
in Uncategorized
This school year, I’m offering monthly Coffee with the Counselor events at my school on the first 
Friday of each month. Coffee with the Counselor mornings will provide an informal opportunity for parents & caregivers to discuss issues related to child and adolescent development, mental health, social & emotional development, and general well-being. I’ll share interesting resources and recommend readings on selected topics, to inspire discussion within the group.
On October 4th, we’ll be talking about The Gift of Failure and how parents can cultivate the skills kids need to tolerate frustration, persist through uncomfortable emotional states, and pick themselves up whenever they fall…or fail.
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In November, we’ll be taking a look at Executive Functioning skills in kids–what they are, what role they play at school and home, and how we can help build “thinking brain” skills in kids who may lag behind in some areas. We’ll talk age-appropriate chores as well as supports that help kids thrive.
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RECOMMENDED ONLINE ARTICLES
Executive Function & Self-Regulation (Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University)
- EF Activities for 3-4 Year Olds (PDF)
- EF Activities for 5-7 Year Olds (PDF)
- EF Activities for 7-12 Year Olds (PDF)
- EF Activities for Adolescents (PDF)
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RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Smart But Scattered & The Smart But Scattered Guide to Success by Peg Dawson
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Lost, Late & Unprepared: A Parent’s Guide to Helping Children with Executive Functioning by Joyce Cooper-Kahn
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Planning Isn’t My Priority (and other Children’s books by Julia Cook)
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Coffee with the Counselor Resource List
06 years
by signewhitson
in Uncategorized
This school year, I’ll be offering monthly Coffee with the Counselor events at my school on the first Friday of each month. Coffee with the Counselor mornings will provide an informal opportunity for parents & caregivers to discuss issues related to child and adolescent development, mental health, social & emotional development, and general well-being. I’ll share interesting resources and recommend readings on selected topics, to inspire discussion within the group.
To kick of the 2019-2020 year, here are some of the articles I hope can help all of us work together to build a caring community for children. Don’t be put off by the prevalence of the word “fail” in the titles below: these resources make a compelling case for cultivating the skills kids need to tolerate frustration, persist through uncomfortable emotional states, and pick themselves up whenever they fall…or fail. Looking forward to talking about these in October!
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ONLINE ARTICLES
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BOOKS
The Gift of Failure by Jessica Lahey
The Blessing of a B-: Raising Self-Reliant Children by Wendy Mogel
How Children Succeed by Paul Tough
Resource Home Evaluator Comments on New Training for Parents
06 years
by signewhitson
in Uncategorized
Late last month, I had the opportunity to offer a 2-hour training based on my new book, Parenting the Challenging Child, to a large group of families offering kinship care through Northampton County’s Children, Youth & Families Division. Kelly Brelsford, the Resource Home Evaluator who arranged the training event, generously shared this feedback:
Thank you, Kelly, for your kind words and for providing the opportunity to share LSCI Skills with your families! It was an honor to spend the morning interacting with such a dedicated and loving group of caregivers, interested in doing whatever they can to support and nourish the kiddos in their care.
To learn more about the LSCI Skills for Parents & Caregivers training programs, click here!
If you are interested in purchasing the 2-hour curriculum to offer it within your organization, please email me at signewhitson@lsci.org
Keeping Kids Safer Online
06 years
by signewhitson
in Uncategorized
Looking forward to presenting Strategies to Keep Kids Safer Online at the ASCA Conference here in Boston this afternoon! So grateful and giddy to see my 8 Keys to End Bullying books featured in the Exhibit Hall bookstore!
Helping Kids Cope with Stressful Situations
06 years
by signewhitson
in Uncategorized
I have been so blessed and honored to travel to great schools and organizations and to work with professionals, parents, and kids on strategies for managing anger, anxiety, stress and conflict. It would be impossible for me to pick a favorite place…but Camp Gold Arrow has got to be way, WAY up there. I loved the people, the setting, and the belief in nurturing the well-being of children. I love their commitment to educating staff on how to best support campers and their insight that #relationshipsmatter. I’m grateful for the wonderful experience at GAC and happy to share their great programming with you!
Here’s a post they shared about the training I offered to their staff this past weekend.
Happy Campers: Bringing the LSCI Approach to Camp
06 years
by signewhitson
in Uncategorized
I got to go to camp this weekend!
Since February, I have been chatting with Audrey “Sunshine” Monke, owner of Gold Arrow Camp and author of the new (and phenomenal!) book, Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults, about offering training to her camp staff prior to the summer sessions. I had a feeling that being at camp would evoke nostalgia for the summers of my youth and knew from my conversations with ‘Sunshine’ that she and I are of similar minds when it comes to prioritizing social-emotional health in kiddos, but I never anticipated what a forward-thinking, child-centered, well-educated, relationship-building, warm, fun, all-around-awesome culture Gold Arrow Camp (GAC) would have. I could have stayed all summer!
Here are some photos from my three days of pure air, pure dedication to kids, and pure joy, talking with the talented and diverse Gold Arrow Camp staff about anxiety in young people, understanding the differences between rude, mean and bullying behavior at camp, and how to use LSCI skills to relate, regulate, and respond effectively to challenging camper behavior.
Teaching GAC staff to look beyond surface behavior to understand the thoughts and feelings that drive challenging camper behaviors
Keynote at Big Campfire
All smiles with Sunshine & our newest books! Check out Happy Campers!
Game time! Loved playing this camp game that blends brain-aligned rhythms with focused attention and pure fun!
Making “Breathing Beads” to bring mindfulness skills to campers
How to Deal with Mean Kids on the Playground
06 years
by signewhitson
in Uncategorized
Every parent I know has experienced the anguish of seeing their child on the receiving end of hurtful comments or social rejection. This post by writer Ilana Donna Aranzie captures this universal parenting dilemma of what to do (read: should I do anything?) and how to best support their child.
Aranzie also links to one of my posts from Psychology Today about how parents can build competence in their kids and disempower young people who bully, which was a super nice thing for her to do 🙂
Aranzie’s post:
https://patch.com/new-york/rivertowns/how-deal-mean-kids-playground
End of the School Year Regulation Strategies
06 years
by signewhitson
in Uncategorized
Hi everyone,
Here’s a great post by one of my favorite writer/educators with lots of easy, quick, EFFECTIVE, fun ways to help kids stay regulated and focused as we head into the final stretch of the year:
Click here:
Survival Kit for the Last Few Weeks of School
Or, cut and paste this link:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/survival-kit-last-few-weeks-school-lori-desautels/
Practical Strategies to Keep Kids Safer Online
06 years
by signewhitson
in Uncategorized
If you’ll be at the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) Conference in Boston this summer, I’ll be presenting on Practical Strategies to Keep Kids Safer Online. I hope you’ll join me–Monday, July 1!
Cultivating Kindness as a Bullying Prevention Strategy
06 years
by signewhitson
in Uncategorized
This month, Character Lessons in my first grade classes have been focused on cultivating kindness in our community. We read the book Each Kindness and learned how small, daily acts of kindness can have a large ripple effect–like a pebble tossed in a pond.
This week, we designed and painted our own kindness rocks with encouraging words. We are looking forward to placing them around school grounds next week and knowing that the person who finds it will feel our kindness and hopefully spread it forward to someone else…who will pass it on to someone else…
The most effective bullying prevention efforts in schools and communities are the ones that are cultivated over time, embedded into daily interactions, and focused on skills such as kindness, compassion, empathy, friendship-building, problem-solving, and assertive communication. Learn more here: https://signewhitson.com/workshop-and-speaking/friendship-other-weapons-group-activities-to-help-young-girls-cope-with-bullying/