Teachers
Self-care isn’t just for grown-ups, it helps kids grow-up to be resilient!
How come it is important to teach kids self-care?
Teaching children self-care is another way of saying that we are preparing kids to grow-up and become parents to themselves. How they learn self-care as a child will impact what kind of “parent” they will become for themselves. Usually, in human development, children will spend more time as adults, than as little ones. Seeing that, it becomes clear that how children ultimately learn to parent themselves has a tremendous impact on their lives.
Why is teaching kids to take care of themselves a critical part of the curriculum, and shouldn’t stop after kindergarten?
What is on your mind when you are teaching children? Probably too many things! There is classroom management, safety, and then perhaps standards, objectives, targets, assessments, and our own wellbeing too (are we going to make it through the day?)! Perhaps it is also important to note that an underlying yet overarching goal can be lost with all of this: For children to become successful adults they need to be able to take care of themselves physically, socially, and emotionally. And, ironically, as teachers, you may be struggling with this yourself, even if only because your job is so challenging.
How to use Wonderful Me - A first guide to taking care of yourself, and SongstoGrow.
I have written Wonderful Me: A first guide to self care for kids, and Songs to Grow, and have developed workshops to address the importance of self care for kids, their teachers and caregivers.
For the classroom, Wonderful Me- A first guide to taking care of yourself is designed to be read in sections to either your entire class, small groups, or individual children. There are many themes, and the student and/or the teacher can choose which ones to read in each sitting. In most situations, the text is to be read by the teacher while the child can look at the pictures. Many sections of the book offer suggestions of activities that the teacher can set up for the children to do. As a teacher, you might also consider how these themes are relevant in your experience of caring for yourself.
Songs To Grow- Songs from this album can be listened to on their own, or songs can be chosen intentionally to reinforce particular themes of the book. You can play the songs to introduce or reinforce themes during music time, transition times, or to accompany activities.
What teachers are saying about the book for themselves:
“In my public school preschool program, we focus heavily on social/emotional development and cover many of the topics discussed in Wonderful Me. This would be a great book to add to a social/emotional curriculum, cozy corner library, school library, etc. to reference when focusing on social emotional concepts.”
“What an expansive, welcome approach to health that provides readers with the tools necessary to experience wellness while navigating feelings and new and tricky experiences.”
“👉🏼 Elementary teachers: you’ll need a copy! This book aligns so well with the curriculum.”
“This is a book I believe every classroom should have. I love the way it explores every aspect of self care in an accessible and child friendly fashion. “
“This is an excellent tool to have. This book doesn’t even need to always be read in one sitting. Taking a page or two at a time is a great way to bond and start strengthening those communication skills!”
“I am a student teacher and a daycare teacher and I love how the language is easy to understand and there are not too many big words.”
“What a fantastic find. It's a fun, educational read to help children learn more about themselves, how to properly take care of them, physically and mentally, how to interact with their surroundings, how to communicate their needs, etc.. They'll learn how to be well-rounded social individuals. Well-written text and cute illustrations. It should definitely be used in schools and other educational places.”
“Wonderful Me not only teaches why it is so important to care for yourself but it goes into detail of how you can do it! It starts with things that may seem simple like physically caring for yourself but also goes into setting up healthy boundaries. and how we can love ourselves well in different aspects of our lives. Great for the classroom!”