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The days are getting shorter and just as children have finally adjusted to their back-to-school routines, everything always seems to come to a screeching halt in time for the holiday season. Children thrive in consistent environments that allow them to anticipate what comes next. During “regularly-scheduled programming,” children know what to do each morning to get ready for school, what their drop-off routine consists of, what to do while they are at school, when to expect dinner at home, when to start their nighttime routine, and (almost) everything else in-between. There were some bumps in the road getting children used to the school day structure, but it was well worth it… until now.
While the holidays bring forth excitement for us all – the anticipation of traditions, dedicated time to spend with friends and family, and a much-needed break for educators – they also bring stress. 😢
Effect on Teachers: Educators who try to enjoy their rest will undoubtedly be interrupted by their wandering thoughts of children returning to their classrooms with somehow even more excitement and dysregulation than they left with — children whose routines quickly disappeared after teachers spent months building up consistency.
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Effect on Families: During the holidays, families take on the roles of not only preparing for family and celebration, but also managing their children’s emotions, supporting their learning, answering endless questions to put their curious minds at bay, and juggling everything in-between. So, while we all need a break, sometimes a holiday break isn’t much of one at all.
Luckily, the last several years have made parents and educators no strangers to stress, inconsistency, and perseverance when it comes to the children in our care.
Many parents (who are their children’s first teachers) took on the additional role of being the sole teacher during pandemic lockdowns-- the result being more parental involvement in their children’s daily experiences at home and school than ever before.
The silver lining is that these tumultuous times have revealed what we have already known – parents and educators need to work together to build the bridge between home and school and provide consistency for children through common routines, language, and a shared approach to helping children foster key emotional, cognitive, and social skills.
This past summer, the US Department of Education launched a Parent Council with Secretary Cardona saying, “The council will help foster a collaborative environment where we can work together to serve the best interest of students and ensure that they have the academic and mental health support they need to recover from the pandemic and thrive in the future.”1 This powerful statement underscores the need for parents and educators to form partnerships, presenting a unified front using a common and consistent approach for supporting children’s learning and social-emotional well-being.
As we know, 🔎 children are emotional detectives who develop within the context of responsive relationships. They are constantly tuning in and learning by imitating and observing the guidance, modeling, and reactions of significant adults in their world. They are looking for this guidance to understand the uncertain and unpredictable world around them.
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Children’s ability to develop the skills of emotional intelligence – identifying and labeling emotions, understanding the cause-and-effect relationship between emotions and behaviors, constructively expressing emotions with words rather than actions, and managing heightened emotions – depend on how trusted adults engage, respond, and interact with them as their key socializers. Learn more about the four quadrants of emotional intelligence.
While the upcoming holiday break means time away from school for children, families, and educators, it does not need to be a break in the consistent support that children receive from their key socializers. Instead, it can be an opportunity for families and educators to come together with a joint plan for promoting children’s emotional intelligence and learning at home.
Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss our future blogs, such as Providing Consistency Between Home and School for Children's SEL— Part 2: 5 Social-Emotional Activities for Children & Families, where you will see five activities families and children can do at home, to maintain consistency during the break.
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