GenParenting

Parenting resources for all who love and care for children

Creating Social Networks for Middle School Students

Creating Social Networks for Middle School Students

Middle school years can be challenging for all students as they emerge from their years in elementary school in a single classroom and now need to navigate with a variety of teachers and classes each day. When learning remotely, the challenges are amplified as students must connect with each teacher virtually and learn how work with many different students from afar. Our middle schools are focused on building effective school communities that foster students’ leadership skills and nurture each student’s individual learning needs.

Leadership Clubs

This is best achieved through ongoing leadership development clubs and events. The fall spirt week includes a Pajama Day and Super Hero Day for students. The art club provides calming art activities. Art projects may include creating personal mandalas by using a computer graphic software application. Students also participate in an online physical fitness class to maintain a balanced physical fitness program. [Read more…]

Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving Day

Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving Day

It is a very difficult year in America. We continue to struggle with the COVID-19 Pandemic. Many families do not have sufficient food supplies and cannot pay their bills. Some do not have jobs or have lost significant income. And still others are depressed and cannot meet their own needs and the needs of family members. Then millions of America’s students are forced to learn remotely with closed schools. Millions suffer from racism. Millions also have been forced to evacuate or lost their homes to extreme weather from climate change.

As we approach another Thanksgiving holiday, we must consider how we can safely celebrate the day with our family and friends. As a senior citizen, I will continue to social distance from all five grandkids and our extended family. [Read more…]

Navigating Politics with Middle Schoolers

Navigating Politics with Middle Schoolers

A three-part reflection series on parenting middle schoolers during the pandemic on the home front, facing political realities with pre-teens, and practical considerations regarding school re-opening.

“Mama, Mr. Williams (the Principal) is totally unfair! For the Boys’ Junior Varsity and Varsity Basketball teams, he always announces their scores the next day during morning announcements and says ‘Good job,’ or ‘Great effort,’ or ‘Congrats on the win.” But when it was the Girls’ Basketball season, he didn’t say anything during announcements! Why is it like this?!” exclaimed my upset 7th grade daughter in January 2020.

As the rest of 2020 unfolded, it seemed there was no escaping politics – gender equality, COVID-19, racial injustice, the Presidential election and its aftermath – it’s all accessible as soon as kids turn on the tv, listen to the radio, or log-on to the computer for classes. Innocuous as it may have seemed, that incident regarding basketball announcements was my daughter’s introduction into politics. The notion that her team received unfair treatment – that the Principal treated the boys’ team differently from the girls’ team – made my daughter question how the decision was made to include boys but exclude girls. Yup! That’s politics! So how do we navigate politics in a way that is appropriate and responsible with our pre-teens? [Read more…]

Simplified COVID-19 Daily Life

Simplified COVID-19 Daily Life

Since school closed in March, my life is much fuller and demanding as I help my grandson, Kenji, with his online learning each day. I have made the following changes with my family to simplify life and expand my time to support my grandson:

  • My new schedule for online learning is now 8:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. on Monday through Friday. My daughter and I alternate supervision of my grandson’s learning based on the demands of her job.
  • Kenji’s mother is the primary tutor for my grandson while I provide added supervision.
  • Although my household chores remain the same, I am far more flexible when coordinating our cooking and cleaning needs.
  • My work is now scheduled in my office after 2:30 p.m. and can be challenging to complete on busy days.
  • Our family still limits outside shopping and outdoor play. I used to take my grandson to the farmer’s market but we no longer enjoy those play dates. Our daily walks are now in neighborhoods instead of downtown. We enjoy looking at people’s gardens instead of participating in the hustle and bustle of our downtown shopping area. With the recent California wildfires, we must now monitor air quality to ensure that we only go outside when the air is relatively healthy.
  • Mental health continues to be a focus for our family as we keep our spirits up with lots of play and reading.

[Read more…]

Jaime Koo, Mama Best Friend (MBF)

Jaime Koo, Mama Best Friend (MBF)

The first of a three-part reflection series on parenting middle schoolers during the pandemic on the home front, facing political realities with pre-teens, and practical considerations regarding school re-opening.

Most people are bashful when it comes to tooting their own horn, but Friends, I am really proud of this recent acknowledgement – I’ve recently been conferred with the honorary title MBF, otherwise known as “Mama Best Friend.” You see, this designation comes from the notoriously difficult, the most critical and defiant, the extremely hard-to-please individual – yes, that’s right, my 13-year-old daughter. It has taken me a lot of hard work in these 13 years to earn the title, and to be granted this distinction during the COVID-19 pandemic is both extraordinarily humbling and extremely gratifying.

What did I do to receive such an honor, you ask? Well, we’ve come a long way, my daughter and I. Allow me to provide some examples: When trying to maintain discipline and order when she was a toddler, she would commonly shriek “I hate you” or scream “You don’t love me anymore!” Once, when she was 8 years old, she got so angry that she impulsively opened the front door and ran down the street. When she was about 10 years old, I was driving my daughters to a doctor’s appointment and so did not pay attention to her demands. All of a sudden, she got enraged and started repeatedly kicking the back of my driver seat, all the while screaming “Why aren’t you listening to me?” [Read more…]