Continuing from our post over the holiday season, let me further share “SEL” (Socio-Emotional Learning) tips and tools from Valerie Cheng, a children’s book author.
What are their “simplifying parenting” tips on managing stress and anxiety?
From Cheng: “As a mom, I try to teach my kids simple tools like breathing, mindfulness, acceptance and letting go, meditation and affirmations to help them manage stress and anxiety and find their peace. It’s okay to have big feelings like stress and anxiety—everyone experiences it, you are not alone. Stress and anxiety is like a huge wave or storm, and we need to practice breathing and meditation, so that when the wave or storm comes we would know how to deal with it. We have also tried a Family Trust Circle—it’s a good exercise where we talk as a family, we say what we appreciate about each other, what we are grateful for, then we discuss our goals, and where we need help and support.”
From her husband Jeff: “It’s important to take care of my own mental health before I can be effective with my children. I try to create a space where I can be quiet and alone with my thoughts. Often this is when I go on long walks in the park or connect with nature as this gives me peace…. Even just silently walking and observing the world helps release their active bodies to ensure there is space in their minds for calm. I find feeding fishes in the ponds in our condo also very relaxing.”
For their kids, they teach them to do “mindful breathing, meditation and affirmations. [Our son] is usually asleep after meditating for 10-15 minutes. When he is stressed, he usually needs a big hug, and some quiet time to do his breathing. As a family, we have built two little free libraries, one for Children’s Cancer Foundation, and one for Children’s Aid Society. We have also started a Kindness Rocks Project here in our condo. We paint rocks with positive messages and leave them near the function room for people to get and to share with others. We also bring the kids to Willing Hearts, it’s a soup kitchen [in Singapore] serving people in need. We as parents also try to show an example by volunteering at the Ahuva Good Shepherd and the Singapore Cancer Society. We believe helping others by sharing your blessings, talents and skills helps you to appreciate what you have, learn gratitude and it changes your perspective on life.”
The next interesting person is Amabel Japitana, who co-founded Kind Little Humans with Emily Bautista. Amabel has a Masters Degree in Education in Early Childhood and Childhood Education from Bank Street College, New York, who has over past 12 years been working in early childhood education in New York City, Manila and Nepal. Emily Bautista is an early childhood educator currently teaching in Boston, Massachusetts. She graduated with a degree in Child Development and Education at UA&P and later on pursued her Masters in Literacy and General Childhood Education also at Bank Street College in New York. She’s been in the field for over a decade and have taught multiple age-groups in different capacities.
“Kind Little Humans came about as a response to the challenges of families and educators during the height of the pandemic. The Philippines was in ECQ and everyone was quarantined at home. Young children had to stay home, while schools shifted to online learning. During this time, we were working with and talking to families and educators who were facing many challenges navigating our new normal. We decided to create an online space that could offer some support and community for those raising and working with young children during this difficult time.
“In this space, we share positive and useful information, tips and points for reflection on early childhood development and raising children. We particularly choose to focus on what research and experience have been telling us for a long time about the early years: that relationships, emotional well-being and play are crucial, and matter much more than early academics. In line with this, we have also begun developing tools for social and emotional learning. We have just created our Kind Little Humans Feelings Cards, which help nurture children’s emotional intelligence, and will be releasing more learning tools next year.
“Our overall hope is to honor little humans on their journey of growth, and the big humans who are learning and growing alongside them. We want to empower children by empowering grown-ups in their roles as carers of young children.”
I also loved their tips on SEL by age group:
“Socio-emotional learning is extremely important. Many grown-ups tend to focus on children’s academic learning and treat socio-emotional learning as something secondary. Socio-emotional learning involves learning to manage emotions, feeling and showing empathy for others, establishing relationships, setting positive goals and making responsible decisions. These skills are, in fact, crucial for children to thrive, do well academically and become successful adults.”
Next week, let me continue this discussion and introduce you to this kind and entrepreneurial girl named, Lia Cua.
Image credits: Austin Pacheco on Unsplash