Cate's Counseling Corner

 Social Media Check In  Since January, I have tried to take a step back from social media. I get it, its only March, but the reality of it is that our students are ingrained in social media everyday, nearly every moment. From Instagram, TikTok to snapchat and iMessage’s- our students are always connected. Although these things are wonderful because they do connect, they also have their own social emotional implications. One thing I recommend is periodically do social media check in. This will help you see what your kids are seeing/being influenced by/reading. This will also help your student to see what they are experiencing. Its easy to take a second, check in and to recalibrate the brain.  Also - since I stopped posting, nothing has happened. No major social implications, no minor issues. You will notice when you stop positing, connections thrive because the communication is more personal and intentional. Really take time to see what type of relationships you are cravin...

  Communication...at its finest  When you think about communication- what feelings do you get? Does it depend on the person you are talking to? Does it depend on the way you are communicating (text, face to face, phone)? Does it depend on your social battery? This has been an ongoing conversation with our students: communication or lack there of. So many of our students are battling with their own internal dialogues that they have created vs the conversations and communication that has happened in real life. but hey- we all do this, don't we? Where we play out a conversation that we THINK will happen but it hasn't happened yet. Trust me, that's how my best arguments, that are never had, are thought up. This also leads to conflict due to thinking through situations that are true and situations that are created within your brain.  The hard part about our brains working this way is that we can mix up those communication thoughts with the reality of actual situations. How do ...

  How to be Purple? Recently, I have got the pleasure to read the book "The World Needs More Purple People" by Kristen Bell and Benjamin Hart.  This is a great story told by Penny who is going through steps on how to be purple. It breaks down what a purple person is and what you get to do to be purple!  Being purple is a choice followed by actions. Being purple is easy, fun and its something that we can all work towards! Use this language with your child to remind them of what they are capable of and how we can all be purple by making the choices to ask good questions, laughing a lot, using our voice, working hard and being ourselves!

 Twizzler Test Some of you may have heard your student talking about being Twizzlers away from them! What in the world?!?! That's right, we have converted from using rulers to using Twizzlers to measure space.  Just kidding, kind of! During this months classroom guidance we have been talking about space and boundaries. One of the biggest things that I have heard from students is "so and so touched me" or "they sit so close" or "they listen to what I am telling my friend."  All of these scenarios come back to "my boundaries are not being respected." So how do we make sure that we respect one another's boundaries? We all get on the same page on how to implement boundaries.  We have spoken about how different people or situations warrant different amounts of space. With a sibling your space may look very different from the space needed from a stranger. In order to utilize a memorable way of converting space, we utilized Twizzlers. A Twizzler...

Resources I have been trying to take the time to really look into different facets of support for our community. I have found that podcasts, audiobooks and verbal resources are easier to utilize than books or articles. Here is a few resources that may be helpful to listen to. Other resources are: Dial Down the Drama by Colleen O'Grady Parenting teens with Love and Logic by Jim Faye Teenagers Untangled

 New Year, New Me Yeah...I cant get on board with that. We know that the start of a new year is stereotypically a time when people set resolutions. My confusion with resolutions is normally a resolution because of something we do not like ourself or our environment. BUT what if we just set goals to continue things, or to educate ourselves or goals set from a place of wanting to bring joy to others? I struggle with the idea of putting ourselves down at the start of the year to "build ourselves up" or "fix ourselves." This year I would rather the start of the year start as a how to grow in certain areas. Maybe its you want to grow in the area of continuing with being an encouraging friend, maybe its continuing to increase your mathematic abilities, or its acknowledge when you know you need to ask for help.  I am hopeful that if we come from a place of grace and love, we will start our new year off with hope and gratitude.