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Parent or Guardian ResourcesCommunity ServicesBelow is a link to great community resources which the North Tonawanda High School Counselors compiled.Student Emotional Well BeingThe Home EnvironmentWritten by Nathan Schelble
The home environment plays a pivotal role towards the success of every child. The following is a list of ten things children need to thrive during their school age years:
1. Demonstrated love and stability: Let your child know that you love them often even when they make poor choices. Offer a predictable, caring, and stable home life whenever possible.
2. Reasonable expectations and responsibilities: Calmly communicate your expectations often and clearly. Remind your child what their responsibilities are and model and encourage kind, respectful, and honest behavior.
3. Academic and emotional support: Be there for your child to monitor and support their needs when he/she does their homework and/or experiences emotional ups and downs.
4. Positive reinforcement and encouragement: Catch your child doing good things and reward and encourage him/her for positive behaviors. Even small positive changes can be recognized.
5. The absence of corporal punishment and threats: Instead of physically disciplining and threatening your child try time-outs, communication, teaching life-skills, behavior charts with rewards & consequences, providing choices, breathing deep and staying calm, and implementing all 10 things on this list.
6. Consistency and structure: Children prefer and thrive in environments which are predictable, consistent, structured, caring, safe, and loving.
7. Compassion and acknowledgment: Children like to be heard, understood, and acknowledged. They are experimenting with many different feelings, ideas, behaviors, and choices. As adults we can model, explain, and demonstrate compassion, understanding, and active listening towards and with our children.
8. Set limits on time and content for media. There are plenty of inappropriate and violent media choices available which children should not be exposed to. Video games, TV, and movies are rated for good reasons and as parents we need to always monitor and limit our child's screen time. A child's bedroom is not the best place for a TV.
9. Quality family time: Good old fashioned face to face time, family outings, puzzles, board and card games, physical activities (e.g. biking, hiking, walking, ball games), picnics, and nightly family dinners are ways to strengthen family bonds, improve communication, and create a happier home life.
10. Healthy diet and an early bedtime: We are what we eat and how well we sleep. Children need, on average, 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night. The more fresh fruits and vegetables, filtered water, complex carbohydrates, protein and high quality fats children consume the better. Sleep deprivation, sugar filled consumables, and heavily processed food and drinks have been shown to negatively impact a child's behavior, health, focus, and learning.
Thank you for all of the love and support you give your child. We are looking forward to teaming with the parents/guardians of each and every child to better assure a positive, successful and unforgettable experience at Drake Elementary School.“The links on this Web site are provided for your information and convenience. By clicking on a link, you will be leaving the district Web site. Please be aware that, while we make every effort to evaluate all the sites to which we link, we cannot endorse nor be responsible for the content provided on these sites.”