Counselor's Corner

Dear Smith Family,

It is so easy to get wrapped up in our own lives and forget about the power of practicing generosity toward others. This is especially true for children, who developmentally start off more egocentric and gradually become aware of the needs and feelings of others. You can have an impact on your child's growth in this area and increase your child's self awareness, empathy, perspective taking and resilience. Here are some ways you can support your child.

Model and Teach Empathy: To practice generosity, something in you has to connect with the needs and emotions of someone else. I teach empathy in counseling lessons, and you can reinforce that at home by noticing out loud how you think others are feeling and encouraging your child when they talk about someone else's feelings.

Praise: When you see your child being generous or empathetic, be sure to praise them or notice outloud their act of generosity and empathy. You can also praise or notice other examples of generosity and empathy, so your child sees how important it is to you.

Involve the Whole Family: Volunteer, donate, and find ways to give to others as a family. These intentional acts, show your child how it feels to be generous and gives them experiences they can draw on and apply in other settings.

This month we are practicing generosity as a campus through the Small World Angel Program.

Teachers have communicated the details with their classes, but here is a link for your convenience. Small World Angel gifts are due 12/2/24. Please consider donating to your class Angel, or finding another cause you connect with to practice generosity as a family!

Take care,

Ms. Laurence

Little Hearts of Hope supports children affected by cancer diagnosis in their family. Each month they mail an activity pack directly to the hurting child to help them process their feelings. You can check out their website for more information.

Journey of hope offers children and their families no-cost peer support groups, for the death of a loved one and anticipated deaths. Adult groups are offered in both English and Spanish. Home resources are also available for those unable to attend in-person.

• Individual Counseling Request Form- Please fill out this form to request one on one time with the counselor.
• Group Counseling Interest Form- Please use this form to indicate your interest in group counseling for your child (fall form due 9/20, spring form due 1/17)
• Bully Report Form- Please use this form to report bullying.

Here are just a few things available to our Smith families:

• Weekend food bags to help meet food needs over the weekend.
• Long holiday food assistance to help meet food needs over thanksgiving, winter, and spring break.
• Hygiene packs to help meet hygiene needs including hair cair, lotion, toothpaste, soap, deodorant, etc.
• Clothing assistance

Families can either sign up directly using the links, or email Sherry Laurence.

• Social Emotional Learning Parent Resources
• Parent Sanctuary and Lending Library- open to all FISD Parents
• Programs and Learning Events- Did you know our FISD special education department hosts family learning events and has parenting education videos available online? These events and videos are available for all families even those not in special education.

Sherry Laurence LPC-Associate, NCC®, CSC

Supervised by Christie Roe, LPC-S

Email: laurences@friscoisd.org
Website: Smith Counselor Website
Location: 9800 Sean Drive, Frisco, TX 75035
Phone: (469) 633-2204