Assistant Principal - Mission - Staff and Student Wellbeing

Well we have been plunged into a different world without very much notice. As much as this was all going on around us, I don’t think many of us actually thought it would affect us. Affect us so suddenly and with such an impact on our school, our family and ourselves. 

Many of us have been guilty of saying, ‘We’re all in this together’, ‘Things will only get better’, ‘Hang in there’ or 'Just do your best’.These can sometimes be thought of as ‘bandaid statements’, ways of deflecting or making someone feel better, but do they really help?

'Just do your best’  is one that can actually cause great confusion. What does that mean? How do you know it’s your best if you’ve never had to do it before? Do we compare our best to other people’s best? This can be very difficult for our children. 

We say this with the best of intentions. We often say it to ease the pressure, to let our child know it is OK if they do not achieve the highest pinnacle of success, as long as they have worked as hard as they can towards it.

Of course, it is not bad for any child, or any person, to ‘do their best’ in any particular endeavor at any time.  But is it fair or reasonable to ask for it in all areas, all of the time?

‘Do your best’ can be particularly tough on kids with anxiety issues and highly sensitive children. According to Lynn Lyons, a therapist who specialized in working with anxiety, anxious kids already struggle with the idea that everything has to be a certain way.

In particular, our school age children are suddenly living in a very uncertain world. They have been very suddenly removed from a very structured environment at school where there are timetables, structured lessons and bells. As much as parents try to recreate this, in reality it's near impossible and doesn’t happen. Structure and time management, however, can make a difference. It is important to remember that students have ‘down time’ at school and this should be also happening at home, preferably in the fresh air away from a screen.

Together with all this we and our children are missing contact with others. By nature we are social beings and many of us struggle with that not in our lives.

During this time we have seen so many ‘experts’ come forward with the views on how to best handle the complexities of lockdown. Not only now, but at other times my ‘go to’ is 

https://parents.au.reachout.com/ . This site provides invaluable advice for parents, teachers and children.

In short, we need to be kind to ourselves and those around us and yes, we are doing our best.

Until next time here is so great advice from Pope Francis: