GenParenting

Parenting resources for all who love and care for children

Responding to Your Kids’ Challenging Behaviors at Home

Responding to Your Kids’ Challenging Behaviors at Home

Our children’s misbehaviors can be addressed through preventive strategies, modifying the environment, and by teaching them alternative behaviors. When trying to resolve a child’s challenging behavior, parents can try the following approach:

  1. Identify the problem and agree on what behavior is going to be addressed.
  2. Brainstorm solutions to understand what function the behavior is serving.
  3. Make a plan involving an acceptable solution that allows the child to achieve the function being served by the challenging behavior. That is, if the function is also acceptable.
  4. Implement the plan consistently and across settings.
  5. Evaluate the outcome to determine next steps.
  6. Develop alternative solutions for various family members or situations.

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How to Develop Leadership Qualities in Your Child

How to Develop Leadership Qualities in Your Child

When considering leadership qualities, admittedly, there are a lot of good qualities to name! How do you know what is the best quality to develop in your child? Where do you start? For young children, it is good to start developing foundational leadership skills within their circle of influence. Usually, this means starting with the self. Start developing internal qualities within your child in the context of your home. As children mature, they can add and build upon the qualities that they already possess.

1. Develop Self-Discipline

All great leaders possess this quality and it must be instilled in your child while they are young. One way to develop self-discipline is to assign chores or guidelines for keeping their personal space tidy. After playing with toys, do your kids have to make sure the space is cleaned up before dinner? What are your expectations for dirty clothes and clean laundry? Do you have a consistent routine for kids to do homework? Perfecting the skill of self-discipline takes time and repetition! Once this practice becomes a habit, your kids will be able to add other responsibilities with ease. [Read more…]

“Out-Growing Their Age” – How to Initiate Self-Reflection for Your Child

“Out-Growing Their Age” – How to Initiate Self-Reflection for Your Child

It is my firm belief that self-reflection can be nurtured in children while they are young. It’s different for each child since children mature at different rates, but in general, kids are independent enough around age five to start reflecting for personal growth and accepting responsibilities for their actions. Here is a strategy I have used with my children as they approached each birthday. In our home, we call it “Out-growing our age.” Even as my children are pre-teens now, we continue this practice to encourage self-reflection. [Read more…]

What Works in Urban Charter Schools?

What Works in Urban Public Charter Schools?

Youth Policy Institute Charter Schools (YPI) in Los Angeles County has met major growth achievements during the past two years. When preparing for our charter petition renewal, the leadership team analyzed extensive data and feedback from key stakeholders to identify what was working in YPI schools.

Best Practices

We identified the following five best practices:

  1. Our newly hired teachers are highly qualified with 15 – 20 years of teaching experiences and added years of professional experiences beyond teaching.
  2. Our teachers provide differentiated reading support and literacy instruction based on each student’s tested reading level. We have closed up to six years of grade level reading gaps in shorter amounts of time.
  3. Our teachers and students review grade level performance data daily to identify their strengths and weaknesses. This analysis helps students identify what they learn each day.
  4. Parents are critically important to their school’s success through varied levels of leadership involvement and engagement.
  5. Parents and their students are taught how to support each other in preparing for a specific career path that will include college and career preparation.

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Parents Participating on School Committees

Parents Participating on School Committees

This past spring, I was invited to join a Strategic Planning Retreat for my children’s school district. Of course, the name of this meeting is intimidating because it sounds so formal. And if you are anything like me, most of the names of school committees (for example, School Site Council, District English Learner Advisory Committee, or District Advisory Committee) make me shiver and hesitate to think what additional responsibility (like more work) might come my way if I attend! But this time, the words “strategic” and “planning” suggested something promising about its purpose in shaping future plans for the school district. So, despite having to take some time away from my day to attend the meeting, I found that the experience was really positive!

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