Author:  Amy Moran as published in Psychology Today

As a parent, you’re going to fail at one time or another. In fact, there’s a good chance you’ll fail on a regular basis.

Parenting fails don’t make you a bad parent. In fact, every time you mess up, you have an opportunity to sharpen your parenting skills and teach your child valuable life lessons.

Social Media Has Changed the Way Parents Discuss Failure

Social media has led to an interesting shift in the way we talk about parent failures. It’s encouraged us to be more open about funny and relatable parenting problems while also discouraging us from […]

Author: Michael Grose

My first parenting mentor, Maurice Balson, author of Becoming Better Parents constantly reminded parents, “If you want your child to be resourceful you need to put them in positions to develop their resources.”

Balson’s resourcefulness message is just as apt today. Coping with change, dealing with small losses, handling rejection and overcoming disappointment are the types of experiences that build a child’s or young person’s inner resources.

Developing resourcefulness is the appropriate approach to take when considering the disruptive impact that coronavirus is having on kids’ lives. A child who is struggling to come to grips with the changes […]

We at Scotch Oakburn College are committed to being an inclusive and diverse educational setting, where every student feels they can bring their full selves to school each day. This includes fostering a strong and supportive environment where gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual and agender (LGBTQIA+) and those who are just unsure, students feel safe and welcomed within our Scotch Oakburn community. By creating a school where everyone feels the psychological safety that allows them to be who they are with ease, we increase student wellbeing as well as […]

by Michael Grose

Recently, I saw a mother give a simple, yet profound resilience lesson to her three-year-old. The toddler fell into his dog’s bowl, saturating his t-shirt and giving himself a fright. His mum quickly helped him saying, “Oh well!” The three-year-old bravely parroted his mother, saying, “Oh well!” and dashed off to play.

It’s in our reactions to these and other everyday mistakes, mess-ups, muck-ups and hurts where the big lessons in resilience are taught and reinforced.

The lessons for the three-year-old were simple but profound. “Oh well” meant:

• Stuff happens
• Don’t look for fault or blame
• Keep your perspective

[…]

Author:  Michael Grose

Since COVID  has entered our lives I’ve had countless conversations with parents and enquiries from schools seeking presentations on how to support kids with COVID induced anxiety.

It’s wonderful to see how kids’ mental health and wellbeing is being prioritised, and importantly, resourced. However, these conversations show we still have some way to go as a community to fully grasp the nature of anxiety.

While the current situation we are all living through is extremely difficult, it does present an opportunity to develop sustained growth and vitality in anxious children and young people.

In Anxious Kids, the book I co-authored […]

Author:  Michael Grose

Three-year-old Sam was tired and cranky. He refused his mother’s request to put his plate in the sink after a snack.

Elsa, Sam’s mother, who was usually quite firm didn’t insist that her son comply. She knew that when her son got into ‘one of those moods’ it was best to leave him alone.

“You’ve got to pick your battles,” said an exasperated Elsa to the other parents in the room.

She also added, “You’ve got to pick the timing of your battles.” Tired and emotional kids are incapable of processing what a parent is saying. Reason goes out the […]

Author: Michael Grose

The last few months have certainly been a test of a young person’s emotional smarts. The ups and downs of the COVID-19 experience continue to play on the emotions of all us, but for adolescence who are going through a period of brain development, this can be a particularly tricky time. Fortunately, parents are in a wonderful position to assist and in doing so develop emotional smarts in their young people. The following strategies will help:

Talk openly about feelings

Your young person will benefit from being around adults who talk about their own emotions and feelings rather than […]