Now that back-to-school season is in full swing, you may be adjusting to the hustle and bustle of fall and gearing up for many more months of craziness with your school-aged children. Now that we’ve stumbled upon Dr. Becky (check out our latest blog post all about Dr. Becky), we wanted to compile some of her best advice that we think you can leverage to navigate the school year confidently.
It can be easy, afterall, to feel like you aren’t on top of everything (who is, honestly?) and unprepared for what lies ahead. But thanks to some of this advice – and a few of our own words of wisdom – we think you can show up as your most confident self and support your families through the school year.
- Happiness is nice. Resilience is better.
Instead of encouraging a shift to total happiness when your child is struggling, try to help them manage their emotions and sit with their feelings in order to conquer them and develop an awareness. By helping them to understand that feelings tend to pass and that they are strong enough to get through it, you can help foster resilience in your children, and yourself, leading to more confidence at home and at school.
- 3 Mantras to Manage Mom Guilt
When children struggle in school, on the playground, or within their social groups, it can be hard not to take it personally. Parents often wonder if they’ve done something wrong or if they haven’t supported their child in all the right ways. When you’re feeling shaky about your parenting skills (which are, undoubtedly, wonderful), lean on Dr. Becky’s mantras to manage mom (parenting) guilt. The first of which is “there’s no such thing as a perfect parent.” You can say that again. Check out the other two mantras on Dr. Becky’s Instagram.
- Words to Replace “Good Job!”
Dr. Becky argues that overusing phrases like “good job” can result in children who seek out and prioritize external validation. In order to help create confident children, Dr. Becky highlighted 5 things you can say instead of “good job” when your child does something new, interesting, or impressive. One of our favorites is “You worked really hard on that.” This supports children and gives them an opportunity to develop pride in themselves. See the rest of Dr. Becky’s “good job” alternatives here. Leveraging some of these alternatives can help both you and your child feel confident in their abilities and less reliant on external validation in the classroom.
Channeling confidence at home and at school can be tough for parents and children alike, but we certainly hope these tips helped. No matter what age group your children are in, we strive to always offer information, resources, and products that support your growing family and enable you to live confident, healthy, mindful lives.