Balance is the Key

Welcome back from Spring Break!  The month of April may bring rain showers (as we have certainly seen this week!), but it also ushers us into the home stretch of the school year.  Many happy students greeted me this week who were eager to share stories of their spring break adventures.  So after a restful week off of school, the question is how to we keep this positive momentum going for the rest of the school year?  How do we sustain the energy we have after a relaxing week off?

The key is balance.  In a past blog post, I talked specifically about how to have a "balanced technology diet".  However, I am talking more generally now about maintaining overall balance in life, both for us as adults and for our children.  Coincidentally, the timing of this post coincides with well with April being "Stress Awareness Month".  How appropriate!

There are a plethora of resources online with tips for adults on how to achieve work/life balance.  This article from Forbes, for example, offers six tips:

1. Let go of perfectionism.
2. Unplug.
3. Exercise and meditate.
4. Limit time-wasting activities and people.
5. Change the structure of your life.
6. Start small, and build from there.

While this article is targeted at adults, much of the advice is transferable to our children as well.  Take the first one, "Let go of perfectionism."  While setting goals and being conscientious about making progress and growth are important, it is equally critical that we help children understand that perfectionism is not realistic.  Mistakes will inevitably be made, and promoting a growth mindset to will help students understand how to overcome obstacles and use failure as learning opportunities.  Likewise, the benefits of regular exercise and meditation for children are widely publicized.  Exercise helps reduce stress in children, and according to this website it eliminates stress hormones and instead produces endorphins which help your child feel good.  Similarly, according to this article, student meditation provides a plethora of benefits like increased attention, better mental health, a reprieve from outside stress, and improved self-awareness and self-regulation.  Mrs. Castaldo, our middle school social worker, recently passed along this article to staff "10 Mindfulness Ideas for Stress Awareness Month" which provides additional ideas for achieving balance, staying in the moment, and not over-worrying about the past or the future.

As District 107 strives to "create a community of inspired learners", our goal is to help all stakeholders find a positive balance in their lives.  Keep in mind that the Community Resources page on our website provides a variety of local resources for parents which can help you find balance for yourself as well as support your child in finding balance.  We appreciate your partnership as we strive to help all learners achieve balance in their lives!