Summer Activities Your Neighbor of 40 Years Since 1979, South Hills Orthopaedic Surgery Associates’ team of highly trained medical professionals has provided a wide variety of orthopaedic care to patients of all ages. All of our physicians are fellowship trained and provide state of the art care in total joint replacement, arthroscopic surgery, surgery of the shoulder, knee, hand, foot and ankle, spine surgery and sports medicine.
South Hills Orthopaedic SURGERY ASSOCIATES, P.C.
For an appointment call 412-283-0260 2000 Oxford Drive, Suite 211, Bethel Park, PA 15102 Free wireless internet access and valet parking available Coming Soon To Siena At St Clair
South Hills Sports Medicine & Rehab 100 Siena Dr, Suite 165, Upper St. Clair, PA 15241
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Incorporating SEL into Your Summer Fun Haley Roberts, Administrative Coordinator, Extended Day Services
Social-emotional learning (SEL) is this year’s hot new buzzword in education—and for good reason! In brief, SEL is the process through which children acquire the skills to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain relationships, and make responsible decisions. Decades of research shows that SEL leads to increased academic achievement and better behavior. As a parent, how can you build and maintain your child’s social emotional skills at home this summer? Here are some ideas to help you get started. Read books with them. The books you already have in your house contain examples of friendship, conflict, and dialogue. These can serve as visual models for social experiences. When reading to your child, talk about the characters and what is happening in the story to give your children access to the words and language used to describe various feelings. Consult online resources. Add these two popular resources to your parenting toolkit: a. Mind Yeti—A mindfulness app with guided sessions that help youth destress, focus, get along with others, and relax. b. Confident Parents, Confident Kids—A site with parent and child resources that support social-emotional development. Ask your child to teach you something. Kids love to play video games. Why not turn your Xbox or PlayStation into a SEL opportunity? Ask your child to teach you how to play a popular video game, like Fortnite. This exercise will allow them to practice patience and effective communication skills. Verbalize your feelings aloud. When, for example, you’re feeling frustrated in the grocery check-out line, talk aloud about your feelings. You could say to your child, “We are in a hurry, 52
UPPER ST. CLAIR TODAY
Summer 2019
and this line is not moving very fast. I’m feeling frustrated, so I am going to take some deep breaths.” This exchange teaches your child words to describe feelings and strategies for keeping calm, like taking deep breaths. Take a step back when conflicts arise. As a parent, it’s second-nature to jump right in when children are fighting and resolve the conflict yourself. However, letting your children attempt to settle their own disputes will strengthen their social-emotional skills. If things don’t resolve themselves after a few minutes, then moderate the discussion with open-ended questions and facilitate a resolution. Reflect each day at the dinner table. When your children come home from summer activities or play dates, ask open-ended questions that will allow them to reflect on their social-emotional learning experiences. “How did you help someone today?” “What challenged you and how did you work through it?” Your children can also pose these questions to you to extend conversation and provide you an opportunity to model good responses. Encourage socialization. Taking your child to a park, swimming pool, or other public place is a great opportunity to encourage socialization with other children. Facilitate play dates with children from school, as well, to help maintain friendships throughout the summer. Participate in community service as a family. Volunteering as a family with an organization that serves underprivileged communities will strengthen your child’s empathetic response, allowing him to better put himself in someone else’s shoes when trying to resolve conflicts or collaborate with different people. This skill is a cornerstone to social-emotional learning principles. n See ad for Extended Day Services on this page.
