Laboring Under False Assumptions?
Labor Day celebrates our workforce, but it also marks the end of summer and coincides with back-to-school. It isn’t only teachers and students who labor away at this time of year. The beginning of the school year can be an additional stressor on parents and family dynamics as well. So how about some professional development for moms, dads, and other guardians? Taking stock of stress-provoking topics at the beginning of the school year and developing a plan to be proactive rather than reactive as parents can mean less time spent laboring under false assumptions. (See what we did there?)
Challenge Assumptions
As parents, one of the first ways to help develop resilience in our children is to challenge some of the assumptions that may be driving negative thoughts and behavior patterns. To do so, it is important to foster a growth mindset vs. a fixed mindset. According to Dr. Carol Dweck, in a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. A growth mindset, by contrast, is the belief that through feedback and practice, people can learn from their mistakes and improve upon their innate abilities. As parents, we can encourage our children to replace “I can’t” with the idea that “I can try.” Even a failed attempt has value as an opportunity to learn and grow through experience.
Challenging assumptions also means letting our children take the lead and take on more responsibility, based on their age level, for self-advocacy as we start to assume more of a supporting role in the process. For parents of high school students in particular, self-advocacy and knowing how to access available supports is an important indicator of college-readiness.
And speaking of college-readiness, another assumption that should be challenged during junior and senior year is whether going straight to college is the most appropriate path to a successful post-secondary transition. Many students, especially those with ADHD and Executive Dysfunction, may be college capable, but not yet college ready. Another opportunity to learn and grow through experience is to think about whether a gap year may be warranted prior to leaving for college.
How Can We Help?
If you need more support understanding executive function and its impact on school success while also determining appropriate parent support to help your child develop resilience and self-advocacy skills, we have parent classes beginning in October. These 5-day, 10-hour courses for adults are grouped according to your child’s age – elementary, middle school, or high school. For more information and to register, check out https://www.essigeducationgroup.com/adult-courses.
If this is the first you’ve heard about a gap year, or if you are wondering whether it is something you should be considering, we now offer Gap Year Consulting along with our other coaching services and classes. We can do a records review and work through a variety of individualized options for a post-secondary plan. For more information or to register, go to https://www.essigeducationgroup.com/gap-year-consulting.
Have a fun Labor Day Weekend, and bring it on, September!