The Fathering Project - some tips for Fathers

These 'tips' are brought to you via The Fathering Project which is a University of Western Australia-based not-for-profit charity led by a team of professionals that aims to help fathers realise how important they are in a child’s life and to give them advice on how to encourage their children. 

I will be including a few of their little Tips on my Wellbeing Blog to inspire our HCC Dads and male parents and carers throughout the year. 

1)        Encourage your kids

Build up your child’s confidence by encouraging him or her to step out of their comfort zone to try new things, and by noticing and praising their efforts.

• Encourage your children to be the best that they can be. Whether it is in school work, sporting activity or any other endeavour, the important thing is that they challenge themselves
• Don’t compare your children to each other, to their friends or to yourself
• Make sure you notice and praise their efforts
• Let your children know you love them, no matter what

2)        Do you know where your child is all day? Visit their school and see!

Take your child to school and ask them to show you around – where is their classroom? Where do they sit? Where do they eat lunch? Where is the playground? Who is their teacher? Who are their friends? Having this information will make it easier to relate to your child as they tell you about their school life.

• Ask your child to show you around their school and introduce you to their teacher and their friends. Having this information will make it easier to relate to your child as they tell you about their school life.
• Look at their artwork and other displays in the classroom
• Do some puzzles or read a book together before you leave
• Later on, ask your child questions about what you saw and the people you met to show your interest

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Ellenbrook Connect Family Event

City of Swan presents "Connect" - a free family event, featuring fun activities for all ages including:  stage performances, rides, face painting, crafts, animal farm, food stalls, market stalls, art displays, demos from sports and dance groups.

Sunday 20th March 2016 from 12pm - 4pm at the Aveley Playing Fields - Bolero Road.

Helping your teen at school this year

Welcome to 2016 and the start of a brand new school year.  We are a couple of weeks into the Summer Term now and I hope your children are feeling reasonably settled and are finding their feet, particularly those who are new to Holy Cross.

The teenage years are often fraught with challenges at school, at home, with parents and friends.   Here are a few simple tips for helping your teenager do well at school this year:

• Talk to your teenage son/daughter about their school work, and help them to plan their workload and prioritise.
• Be available to talk when they want to (remember sometimes they won't want to talk at the same time that you do!)  Often they just need you to be a good listener - this can be harder than it sounds!
• Try to resist passing judgement or blame when talking about tough issues.
• Find some time in each others' busy schedules for doing fun things together.
• Keep up with things going on in your teenager’s life, school or circle of friends.  You will be more likely to be aware of some of the issues they may be facing such as bullying, self-esteem, drug & alcohol use, etc.
• Encourage healthy eating, plenty of exercise and establish a good sleep routine.  
• Encourage your teenager to learn some relaxation skills which is vital during stressful times- teach them about deep breathing, mindfulness, meditation, using exercise as a way to relax, positive self-talk, etc.  
• Talk openly about social media and how it may be affecting them - both positively and negatively.  Support a reasonable usage of social media as it's not all bad all the time!    
• Talk about their dreams and ambitions for life beyond school and support them to plan their future.

Remember too that if your teenager is not talking to you and you are worried about them there are plenty of great services out there for young people including Headspace, KidsHelpline and Reachout.com.  Check out the websites for information and guidance on how to access help if needed.

School Holiday Activities & Ideas

Warm wishes to you all this festive season.  It has certainly been a busy, exciting year at Holy Cross and I trust you enjoy some well deserved rest and relaxation over the holidays.
I have developed a little sheet with some ideas, tips, activities and general reminders for the holiday season which I hope you find helpful.  Hopefully it will provide some inspiration!
Happy holidays everyone and see you next year.  Thank you for your continued support over the year.  As always it has been a pleasure supporting your children as they journey through another academic year.
With kind regards,
Jo Betti, HCC Social Worker

Coffee & Conversation

Our last Coffee & Conversation for the year will be on Wednesday 2nd December 2015 at 9:00am.
Hope to see you there!

Jo Betti
HCC Social Worker

Christmas in Ellenbrook!

Aveley Christmas - Carols by Candlelight (plus a visit from Santa!)      
Saturday 5th December, opens at 5pm, carols from 6pm - 8:30pm.
Aveley Playing Fields
Limited parking available nearby at Aveley Primary School, Swan Valley Anglican Community School and Vale Shopping Centre
Smoke, alcohol and pet free event

Ellenbrook Christmas Festival (Markets, Pageant & Carols)
Saturday 12th December 2015
Mega Christmas Markets- 10am to 4pm, Christmas Pageant 5pm - 6pm
Take a leisurely stroll on Main Street through the market, mingle with the locals and entertain the children.  Followed by a pageant from the Library to the Town Square.  The parade is sure to dazzle with the talent of local dance, performance and community groups.
Enjoy carols and entertainment under the stars at Charlie Gregorini Memorial Park from 8 - 9:30pm.
For further details visit: ellenbrook.com.au or www.facebook.com/christmasinellenbrook

Twilight Family Festival
City of Swan are supporting the Swan Valley Community Centre to host their very first Christmas Concert event – the Twilight Family Festival on 13th December at Baskerville Oval.
   
A Big Bug Christmas- Children’s Christmas Party
Ellenbrook Community Library- Wednesday 9th December, 10:30-11:30am.
A fully interactive storytelling session adventure for children aged 2-8 years. This is a FREE event and places are limited. Bookings essential on 9207 8787.

Self talk

An excerpt from ParentingIdeas:

"Self-talk is the foundation strategy to teach kids to shift their thinking about a negative event." A negative event happens such as a child’s sibling won’t share a much-loved toy. The child immediately feels anger. He thinks, “Not again! I hate her! She never shares and it’s not fair.” This thinking feeds his anger, which starts to spiral. In a heartbeat he’s lashed out at his sister for inflicting such an injustice on him. Here’s what happens…… Our thoughts, often reflected through self-talk, change when we experience an emotion. We tend to focus on the event that caused the emotion. Anger shifts our attention outward to the thing, person or event that caused it. Sadness shifts our attention inwards toward the loss. Our emotions change how we see the world. We are usually more optimistic when we are happy and more pessimistic when we’re sad. The key is to change your self-talk. By changing the chatter in your brain from something negative, catastrophic or unhelpful to something more realistic, positive and helpful can help get you through a challenging situation. Positive self-talk examples include: “Stuff happens. I can cope.” “It’s no big deal.” “I’ve put up with worse than this.” “I may want it but I don’t need it.” Help children develop age-appropriate self-talk scripts for a variety of common situations they meet so they can avoid an escalation of their emotions. Then encourage them to change the monkey-brain tape in their heads when they catch themselves saying negative, catastrophic or down-right regretful things.