Parent Blog

This week, 7 keys to handle a difficult teenager. This is useful in general regardless if your teen is difficult or not, the teenage years can be confusing and frustrating as adult. We try, sometimes we  stumble and try again.  7 keys to handle difficult teenagers  

 A lot of children experience anxiety. How to support them and finding the right balance can be tricky. Here is an article on 5 ways caring parents make teen anxiety worse (not a fan of the title but the info is relevant). 5 Ways Caring Parent Make Teen Anxiety Worse

This week I’ve attached a guide on digital citizenship taken from the MediaSmarts website. You can quickly scroll to the sections of interest to you. It addresses a number of topics such as: how to talk about drama and healthy relationships, cyber safety, digital footprint… It is a good guide on how to have these conversations with your child and when/how to intervene. Digital Citizenship

This is a link about depression but the whole site is full of resources for teen wellness, it is worthwhile exploring. http://teenmentalhealth.org/learn/mental-disorders/depression/ This link is information for parents on LGBTQ teens https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/teen/dating-sex/Pages/Four-Stages-of-Coming-Out.aspx

This week we have some printables on building resiliency, an example of a gratitude journal, and challenging negative thoughts. I've noticed that a lot of people like worksheets and quick reference resources. Resilience Challenging negative thoughts Gratitude journal

The purpose of this blog is to support students and parents. I share what I think might be useful based on experience and common requests/issues that come up regularly in our school context - whether it comes from students, parents or teachers. Please feel free to communicate with me to let me know how or what could be useful to you. I will continue to post and would love to have your input. This week: 5 ways to make teens feel good about themselves

This week: An article on self-compassion vs self-esteem, an information session re parent involvement in student counselling and printables on well being and thinking errors. This is a very interesting article on self-compassion vs self-esteem, important to understand especially for teens who tend to compare themselves to others in a negative way Why We Should Stop Chasing Self-Esteem and Start Developing Self-Compassion: https://self-compassion.org/why-we-should-stop-chasing-self-esteem-and-start-developing-self-compassion/ Free session on parent involvement in student counselling Nov. 26th at Western Canada High School (click on link): Parent involvement in student counselling Here are some printable documents on thinking errors and well being, particularly relevant for the anxious mind: Positive Steps to Well being Unhelpful Thinking Habits with Alternatives Unhelpful Thinking Styles