Here’s a very simple idea for you to try during your mentoring session…go outside and play catch with your child. This will give you a chance to make eye contact with each other, to communicate together, to practice skills, to be outside, and to have fun. Grab a nerf football, a soft baseball, a tennis
Autonomy leads to greater communication with children. Faber & Mazlish have 6 guidelines that encourage autonomy in children. They are: 1. Let Children Make Choices – Child selected choices reduces their need to express resentment. 2. Show Respect for a Child’s Struggle – Adults can be most helpful to a child when they give useful
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Mazlish is right when she says real listening is hard work. You have to concentrate with children so you don’t just give them pat answers to questions they may have. So here are five tips to being a better listener and helper; 1. DESCRIBE — to the child what YOU hear them being concerned about.
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Mazlish suggests we avoid the following adult tendencies if we are to become good listeners of children; Don’t ask too many questions. – Kids open up when not bombarded with “20 questions.” Don’t rush to answer questions. – Answering a child’s question with a question encourages them to find their own solutions. Don’t take away
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Do you mentor a child who loves a good challenge? If so, click on this link to get information about a PING PONG BALL contest that is currently happening through KIDS HOPE. http://www.kidshopeusa.org/ping_pong_video_contest.aspx It’s more than just getting a ball to land in a cup….it’s all about having FUN with your child! Enjoy!
Don’t Break the Chain is a great game that challenges the memory and gets you moving! Imagine my surprise when I found it in a Hallmark store! Hallmark stores across the country will be selling it this spring for $12.99. To play, the first player pics a card (“link”) and follows the instruction. For example,
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We’ll be spending the month of April listening to what Faber & Mazlish have to say to us in their book How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and Listen so Kids Will Talk. I often get concerns from mentors about their student who either will not talk to them or will not listen to
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Let me start by saying I have yet to find a book by Mo Willems that does not make me or my children laugh. Even the title of this book brought giggles when we found it at the library…just imagine a naked mole rat! Beyond a funny title though, this is a great book for
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As a child of poverty, Liz Murray dealt with three agencies that are all too familiar in their insensitivity to those in need. Social Welfare – Liz remembers how caseworkers treated her family with authoritarian disrespect while they relished in the power they were able to wield. Child Welfare – Because she was poorly cared
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Get to know something about your child as you play a quick game of “Categories”. Share a category (my house, my bedroom, my neighborhood, my school, the playground, my friend’s house, my mentoring hour) and let your child list things they like to do at each place. Pay close attention to the activities that your
