Love and Logic
What's My Tone of Voice?
How does tone of voice affect interactions with our kids? We believe that tone of voice can make all the difference between success or failure when using Love and Logic techniques. The importance of tone of voice is reflected in our First Rule of Love and Logic:
Adults set firm limits in loving ways without anger, lectures, threats, or repeated warnings.
This Love and Logic Rule, which has been around since it was first published in 1990, is critical. When adults use anger, threats, and warnings with their kids, communication fails and relationships are damaged. A recent study validated this view, showing that anger, threats, and shouting used with kids can constitute verbal/emotional abuse and cause life-long harm.
For many of us, life is challenging. The daily stress and exertion of life can take its toll on your patience and can affect the tone of voice you use with the ones you love the very most. I’ve never met someone who didn’t face this challenge on a daily basis. It falls under the category of “life.”
Although we can’t take the stress out of living, we can do our best to control how we react to stress and what tone of voice we use with our kids. Here are a few suggestions for dealing with the stresses that we all face.
Expecting no stress creates more.
Knowing that life is stressful for all of us, and that this is the standard state of affairs, can go a long way toward helping us avoid being overwhelmed by it.
Seeing purpose in stress creates hope.
Every difficulty we face can either erode us or grow us. When we look for the growth and learning opportunities that each trial brings, our perspective remains far more positive.
Emotional connections with others make it seem smaller.
Many of us withdraw or throw ourselves more deeply into our work when we feel stressed. As a result, we isolate ourselves from the relationships that give us the most strength. Healthy relationships can also help us put the stresses in our lives in perspective.
Remember daily that our kids are looking to us for calm leadership.
As we all know, kids take their emotional cues from the adults around them. When we can keep ourselves positive in the face of stress, will our kids be more likely to do the same? When we can talk to them in a tone that truly communicates our love for them, will they respond in far more positive ways?
Don’t expect yourself or your kids to be perfect.
We all get snippy and snappy from time to time. Forgiveness is a wonderful thing!
Whether it is a youngster neglecting a chore or a teenager completely absorbed by texting, we can be far more effective as parents/teachers by carefully controlling our tone of voice as we hand the problem over to the child in loving ways with a healthy dose of empathy.
Social Emotional Learning
from Breathe for Change:
October welcomes our theme of Breathe For Creativity! This month's toolkit will equip you to inspire creativity and spark inspiration in your classroom. By embracing your creative super power, you and your school community can find ways to overcome obstacles, embrace full self expression, and find your flow. See sample video and entire toolkit below.
Your toolkit includes:
21 pages of innovative wellness, mindfulness, and self expression strategies you can teach to your students and staff
A Breathe For Creativity theme overview you can share with your students, colleagues, and families
CASEL-aligned strategies that are differentiated for primary, secondary, and adult education
Edmentum Exact Path
There are a few ways you can accommodate and support your special education students in Exact Path! Here is a link to making Accommodations and Modifications in Exact Path. Many thanks to Jess Ward for putting this together. If you have any questions, please reach out to Jess- wardj@hamiltonschools.org.
October Meeting
Join us for the Hamilton Township Grants Committee and PTA General Membership Meeting, Monday October 16 in the William Davies Middle School Cafeteria.
- The Grants Committee portion of the meeting will begin at 6:15 where all grant application discussions will be held.
- The General Membership Meeting will begin at 7:00PM.
Membership
Don't forget to join the PTA! For just $5 for the year, you can support our wonderful PTA! Click on this link - https://hamiltontownshippta.memberhub.com/store#.
Grants
Here is a link to the PTA Grant form:
Trunk or Treat
Come out and support the PTA! You can bring your own kids OR sponsor a trunk OR come out to interact with students and families!
