Three Things You Can Teach Your Kids At Home

3 Things You Can Teach Your Kids At Home

There are a lot of things kids learn at school. How to do math, science, spell correctly, write legibly, and if you are lucky, play sports. But once they leave school, many life lessons await them. As Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, the authors of The Coddling Of The American Mind: How Good Intentions And Bad Ideas Are Setting Up A Generation For Failure remind us, kids are arriving at college less and less prepared.

Depression and anxiety rates have risen sharply among college students, more kids are on some sort of mood enhancer, and student counseling centers are seeing more visits than they ever have. While there are numerous reasons for this effect, the point is that kids need more than simply school preparation to not be overwhelmed by college (and life). So, with that in mind, here are three useful things you can teach your kids while they are at home during the pandemic:

Time Management

So much of school is scheduled for kids. This class starts at this time, practice starts after school, parents pick you up at a given time, teachers prepare the lesson for you. But what do you do when you want to accomplish something on your own? How exactly do you manage your time to reach your own goals?

For example, let’s say your kid wants to run a 5K race. How does he design his schedule to allow time to train? How does he make sure that he also accomplishes everything else he has to do like chores, homework, sleeping, etc.?

How to Teach Your Kid Time Management

Having your kid at home is the perfect opportunity to help him learn how to set a goal, then manage his time to reach it. Start by having your kid choose a goal. It could be anything from finding a recipe and making dinner for the family to selling 400 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies, or, of course, a 5K race.

Then put your kid in the driver’s seat and have him create his own schedule to reach his goal. Your job is not to help him. Sure, you can let him know that you are there to answer questions, but you are not there to tell him what to do or when to do it. That, in fact, is the lesson for him to learn. But there is an even more important lesson here – that you believe he can accomplish his goals on his own. 

How To Cope With Failure

Failure is a part of life. Try anything, from getting a job to learning to skateboard, and you will face failure. But what is more important than if we fail, is how we fail. Do we quit? Do we blame others? Do we make excuses? Or do we pick ourselves up and try harder?

Now that you are at home with your child, you have the perfect opportunity to teach him how to cope with failure, and even have fun in the process. Start by choosing an activity or skill to learn with your child. You could learn how to sing, play the guitar, dance, knit a blanket, ride a skateboard, or do gymnastics. Really anything is fine as long as it is a reasonable challenge and something that you and your child can enjoy.

Then learn alongside them and when you fail (which you will) use the opportunity to model self-control, personal responsibility, and the link between effort and outcome. In short, just shake it off and try harder. When you do this, you teach your kid an invaluable lesson: it is okay to fail; it is what you do about it that matters.

Self-Control

Drug addiction, smoking, procrastinating, interrupting, arguing, overeating, and over-consuming media, at the core, are all problems of self-control.

Essentially, we would like to be doing one thing (or envision ourselves doing this) yet we are actually doing something else. We would like to exercise every day, but we can’t seem to find the motivation. We would like to stop at one piece of pie, but that second one seems to call our name. And we know we should’ve gotten that last piece of work done but we were just so tired. You get the point.

The problem with poor self-control is that it keeps us from getting what we really want. Moreover, it keeps us stuck in a cycle of conflict with ourselves. The energy we spend justifying our actions could be spent working toward our goals. It all starts with better self-control.

So, take the opportunity now that your child is home with you to teach self-control – and maybe even give yourself a refresher. Start by sitting down with your child and telling him you are both going to choose a goal and help each other stay motivated to reach it. He can choose something like building a model airplane, brushing his teeth every day, walking the dog every morning, or eating only one bag of candy every day. You can also choose any goal you like so long as it is something that you would like to accomplish and is within your reach.

Then choose a strategy with your child to help you and he reach your goals. You can choose a motivational mantra, a commitment strategy that utilizes a penalty for not reaching your goal, or anything else that you want. The point is to learn how to work with yourself to change your behavior, and essentially overcome the impulses that keep you from reaching your goals. I can think of no better life lesson.   

Having your kid at home for an indefinite amount of time is something that no parent could’ve anticipated. Yet, if we are creative, and a little open-minded, we can use the time as an opportunity to teach our kids all the things they might not otherwise learn in school.

Related Online Continuing Education (CE) Courses:

Motivating Children to Learn is a 4-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that provides strategies and activities to help children overcome their academic and social challenges. Click here to learn more.

Executive Functioning: Teaching Children Organizational Skills is a 4-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that will enumerate and illustrate multiple strategies and tools for helping children overcome executive functioning deficits and improve their self-esteem and organizational abilities. Click here to learn more.

Supportive Communication for the Child with Special Needs is a 1-hour audio continuing education (CE/CEU) course that provides practical tips for helping parents to communicate with their child who has special needs. Click here to learn more.

Professional Development Resources is a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Georgia State Board of Occupational Therapy; the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors (#MHC-0135); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Professional Development Resources maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

PDR offers over 150 accredited online CE courses for healthcare professionals. 

Target AudiencePsychologistsSchool PsychologistsCounselorsSocial WorkersMarriage & Family Therapists (MFTs)Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs)Occupational Therapists (OTs)Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs), and Teachers

Enjoy 20% off all online continuing education (CE/CEU) courses @pdresources.orgClick here for details.

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How to Get Kids Talking

How to Get Kids TalkingThe competent use of language can increase young clients’ self-esteem, motivate them to learn, engage their willing cooperation, defuse power struggles, and teach conflict resolution skills, but the question is: How do we get kids talking?

One suggestion is to use their own language.

Conducting experiments to explore the language gap between rich and poor children that emerges during infancy, Anne Fernald, a psychology professor at Stanford University, identified one likely cause: infants who heard more child-directed speech developed greater efficiency in language processing and learned new words more quickly (Fernald et al., 2015).

Using special technology to make all-day recordings of low-SES Spanish-learning children in their home environments, Fernald and her colleagues found that exposure to child-directed speech – as opposed to overheard speech – sharpened infants’ language processing skills, with cascading benefits for vocabulary learning (Fernald et al., 2015).

Fernald’s work has led to the creation of a parent-education intervention study with low-income Spanish-speaking mothers in East San Jose, California, funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. This new program, called ¡Habla conmigo! (Talk with Me!), teaches Latina mothers how they can support their infants’ early brain development and helps them learn new strategies for engaging verbally with their children. Although they only have data from 32 families so far, the preliminary results are promising. Mothers in the ¡Habla conmigo! program are communicating more and using higher quality language with their 18-month-olds compared to mothers in a control group (Fernald et al., 2015).

“What’s most exciting,” said Fernald, “is that by 24 months the children of more engaged moms are developing bigger vocabularies and processing spoken language more efficiently. Our goal is to help parents understand that by starting in infancy, they can play a role in changing their children’s life trajectories” (Fernald, 2015).

Related Online Continuing Education (CE) Courses:

Improving Communication with Your Young ClientsImproving Communication with Your Young Clients is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that teaches communication skills for use with young clients and their families.

Healthy professional and personal relationships rely heavily on effective and respectful communication skills. Professionals can benefit from enhancing their repertoire of communication techniques to improve the quality of relationships with families and children who have communication skills deficits. The competent use of language can increase young clients’ self-esteem, motivate them to learn, engage their willing cooperation, defuse power struggles, and teach conflict resolution skills.

The purpose of this course is to teach clinicians effective and practical communication and conversational skills to use in the classroom and in one-on-one situations with young clients and their families. Using these strategies, participants will be better prepared to manage difficult situations and conversations. Course #31-06 | 2018 | 59 pages | 20 posttest questions

Improving Social Skills in Children & AdolescentsImproving Social Skills in Children & Adolescents is a 4-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that discusses the social skills children and adolescents will need to develop to be successful in school and beyond. It will demonstrate the challenges and difficulties that arise from a deficit of these crucial skills, as well as the benefits and advantages that can come about with well-developed social skills.

This course will also provide practical tools that teachers and therapists can employ to guide children to overcome their difficulties in the social realm and gain social competence. While there are hundreds of important social skills for students to learn, we can organize them into skill areas to make it easier to identify and determine appropriate interventions. This course is divided into 10 chapters, each detailing various aspects of social skills that children, teens, and adults must master to have normative, healthy relationships with the people they encounter every day. This course provides tools and suggestions that, with practice and support, can assist them in managing their social skills deficits to function in society and nurture relationships with the peers and adults in their lives. Course #40-40 | 2016 | 62 pages | 35 posttest questions

Supportive Communication for the Child with Special NeedsSupportive Communication for the Child with Special Needs is a 1-hour audio continuing education (CE/CEU) course that provides practical tips for helping parents to communicate with their child who has special needs.

Parenting a child with special needs comes with many challenges. Parents are often under pressure, not knowing what to expect or how to react and manage the behaviors their child may present. Children who have supportive and caring parents who understand their needs generally experience better outcomes, both in school and in general. In their desire to help, parents frequently look to their child’s school-based professionals for ideas on how to communicate and connect with their child. It is imperative that speech-language pathologists and other helping professionals like counselors and occupational therapists have practical ideas and skills in order to help parents do this. This course will discuss multiple practical ways to help parents communicate and connect with their child who has special needs, thereby gaining the competence they need to improve their child’s chances for success. A course handout with slides that flow with the audio file is included. Course #11-15 | 2018 | 58 minute audio | 10 posttest questions

Course Directions

Our online courses provide instant access to the course materials and CE test. Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion. Click here to learn more. Have a question? Contact us. We’re here to help!

Professional Development Resources is a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Target Audience: PsychologistsCounselorsSocial WorkersMarriage & Family Therapist (MFTs)Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs)Occupational Therapists (OTs)Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs)School Psychologists, and Teachers

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

Supportive Communication – New Audio CE

New Audio CE Course @pdresources.org

Supportive Communication for the Child with Special NeedsSupportive Communication for the Child with Special Needs is a new 1-hour audio continuing education (CE/CEU) course that provides practical tips for helping parents to communicate with their child who has special needs.

Parenting a child with special needs comes with many challenges. Parents are often under pressure, not knowing what to expect or how to react and manage the behaviors their child may present. Children who have supportive and caring parents who understand their needs generally experience better outcomes, both in school and in general. In their desire to help, parents frequently look to their child’s school-based professionals for ideas on how to communicate and connect with their child. It is imperative that speech-language pathologists and other helping professionals like counselors and occupational therapists have practical ideas and skills in order to help parents do this. This course will discuss multiple practical ways to help parents communicate and connect with their child who has special needs, thereby gaining the competence they need to improve their child’s chances for success. A course handout with slides that flow with the audio file is included. Course #11-15 | 2018 | 58 minute audio | 10 posttest questions

This audio course provides instant access to download the mp3 audio file, the course handout, and CE test. After enrolling, click on My Account and scroll down to My Active Courses. From here you’ll see links to download/print the course materials and take the CE test (you can print the test to mark your answers on it while reading the course document).

Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion. Click here to learn more. Have a question? Contact us. We’re here to help!

Professional Development Resources is a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Target Audience: PsychologistsCounselorsSocial WorkersMarriage & Family Therapist (MFTs)Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs)Occupational Therapists (OTs)Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs)School Psychologists, and Teachers

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!