That Raises a Question
Although they are responding to different stages of development, the parent of a family with a two-year-old and another with a ten-year-old in our school community may have more in common than they realize. Both have to get their children out the door in the morning, and at the end of the day they pick up a child who may express frustration about an incident still buzzing like a bee in their minds. At home they both might have to navigate transitions from play time to dinner or homework to bed.
Acknowledging that parenting children of different ages has some similar challenges raises a question: Do these parents, as members of the same school community, have helpful perspectives to offer one another?
Brainstorming ideas for community
This summer I met several times for group discussions with preschool and elementary parents about ways to amplify kindness and caring in our community. The brainstorming sessions were lively, and TK teacher Indi Wibisono kindly took notes on the wide-ranging ideas people offered.
One stream of thought kept repeating: How can we, as a school community, address common questions and share experiences in ways that are beneficial to everyone? People were enthusiastic, and two action items emerged from our discussions: 1) creating a panel on the topic of helping children with frustration, and 2) maintaining a bulletin board with a “question of the month” and inviting parents and staff to offer answers.
Ideas put into action
This week we can celebrate moving forward on these action steps. We created a community bulletin board in the middle hallway, posting a question raised by the group, “What Makes Morning Easier?”, and invited people to send answers to Ms. Indi, which she posted on the board.
In addition, last night we convened a panel of professionals to discuss the question, “How can we help children ride waves of frustration?” Parents were invited to send questions ahead of time. Within a few days, the event filled to capacity. Although we weren’t able to film the event, Ms. Indi took notes and we will be sharing these in next week's Wednesday Messages.
The process of raising questions and inviting all community members to help answer them encourages empathy toward one another and can even dissolve feelings of isolation. We hope people feel heartened to see how common their parenting challenges are and that this process will aid them in finding creative ways to support one another.
