Resources for Parents
Self-Care for Children
You can create a list of self-care items with your child so they can use them when they need to calm down or relax. When children practice self-care, they learn to identify their own physical and emotional needs, and they develop the skills to keep themselves healthy mentally, physically and emotionally. For example, the list may things like taking a nature walk, reading a book, or calling a friend or relative.
Calming Corners and Calm Down Kits
Whether your child is going to school on campus, or learning from home, you can create a calm space at home and have a calming kit ready to use. The calm space could have a soft rug or mat, bean bag chair, or other plush options for sitting or lying down, and with some of your child’s favorite books, stuffed animals or quiet toys. The calming kit can have sensory items that are comforting like items to touch that are soft, things that smell good, stress balls, music, art, and fidgets. You can find calming kit items around your house. For example, beans in a jar to scoop and shake, or you can purchase inexpensive items from a discount store online. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to prepare your calming kit. A calm down corner is a designated space in a home or classroom with the sole intent of being a safe space for a child to go to when they feel their emotions are running too high and they need to regain their emotional and physical control.
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
SEL is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. – Collaborative on Academic Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL). Parents can teach social and emotional skills at home, and the resources here can help you get started.
Social and Emotional Learning Resource List
- Emotional Intelligence Apps and Games
- Social Emotional Learning Activities
- Parent Tool Kit: Social & Emotional Development
- SEL in Homes and Communities
- Edutopia: SEL Strategies for Parents
- Edutopia: A Parent’s Resource Guide to Social and Emotional Learning
- Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning: Family Tools
- NAEYC: Building Social and Emotional Skills at Home