Counselor's Corner
October
Fall is finally here! As we begin October, I will be covering another topic that aligns with our district’s elementary counseling curriculum. In K-5th we will be talking about Building Healthy Relationships and Bully Prevention. Students will be learning about respecting differences and interacting with others who have different feelings, opinions, and personalities. Other content areas that these lessons will address are building positive self-concepts, resisting peer pressure, and developing and maintaining healthy friendships.
October: Healthy Relationships and Bullying Prevention
Learning Leaders build trust. Teaching students to identify healthy friendships versus bullying behaviors, and empowering them with conflict resolution and upstander skills.
Building Student Responsibility
A responsible child understands that his actions have consequences. Parents can help their children take responsibility for what they do by not letting them “off the hook”.
Don’t let your child make excuses for his behavior. Talk about how choices have consequences, and let him suffer the consequences of his actions. If he leaves his homework at home, for example, don’t offer to bring it to school for him. Say, “I’m sorry, but actions have consequences. You’ll have to tell your teacher you left it at home.”
Set consequences at home for inappropriate behavior at school, too. For example, if he gets in a fight on the playground, restrict him from playing with friends for the week.
Set Effective Consequences
To be effective, a consequence should meet the three criteria:
Is it logically related to the misbehavior? (Children need to see the connection.)
Is its enforcement respectful of your child?
Is it reasonable to you and your child?
As with all discipline techniques, the consequences must be enforced consistently. Don’t let your child make excuses for his behavior.
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