Dear SKS Parents,
In a recent article in September’s Educational Leadership magazine, award winning journalist and author, Katherine Reynolds, was interviewed about her recent book: The Good News About Bad Behavior: Why Kids Are Less Disciplined Than Ever and What To Do About It.
In her interview, Reynolds cited kids today are less disciplined, more anxious, and less attentive. Kids today struggle with anxiety, perfectionism, and conflict resolution, and they need to manage their thoughts, emotions, and behavior better. Wow – that’s not very promising news! While all this is not true for every child and family, it is concerning to hear this to both parents and educators.
What’s the cause of all this? The research, according to the author, says there are three factors that contribute to this trend:
- The disappearance of unstructured outdoor childhood play.
- The continued growth of social media and the part it plays in a child’s social, emotional, and behavorial growth.
- The notion that today’s kids are “unemployed.” Not in a job sense, but children often don’t have meaningful opportunities to contribute to a family or a community in ways that are not achievement or competition oriented.
This is a good time to stop and reflect what children are doing and how we can help them. Ensuring unstructured play time, limiting technology time (such as social media like Instagram, Snapchat, and computer games,) and involving them in worthwhile activities like youth ministry, the arts, and scouts are all healthy examples of ways to help our children grow.
It’s food for thought for all of us, right?
The pictures above are from Abbey Fest and the School Choir singing at our first school mass.
Take care,
Bud