| Thursday, 24 November |
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| Saturday, 26 November |
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| Tuesday, 29 November |
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‘Tis the season where the school year is coming to an end. In and out of school, there are assemblies and concerts, awards and reports. There are many endings and often much looking forward to the new beginnings of next year. Sometimes in the celebration of accomplishments and hard work, there is disappointment or sadness.
I didn’t get the grade I was hoping for.
Why didn’t I get an award?
Everyone else seems excited for next year. I feel worried about what will come next.
I thought I worked really hard, why doesn’t it show?
In that space, it is important to recognise how someone is feeling and show empathy. Equally important maybe helping someone to see where their strengths lie. Every individual has strengths. Sometimes as humans we tend to focus on particular sets of strengths in particular settings. For example, a focus on academic strengths at school or physical strengths in sport. Children sometimes have a tendency to think categorically about strengths (or weaknesses) and have trouble seeing their strengths across settings. For example, “I struggle academically, so I feel like I’m bad at everything.” And when someone feels like this, it can be helpful to help them identify their strengths and build on them. And maybe even help them see the benefits across multiple settings. This might look like, “You are such an adventurous person! That can help you to be adventurous in learning new things at school as well as places you’re more comfortable - like on your bike.”
What are your child’s strengths? What are your strengths? This blog post has a very comprehensive list of strengths including cognitive, academic, social skills, behavioural, character, creative and physical strengths. I wonder what you would find if you went through the list to identify your child’s strengths. What could you encourage them with? What could you build on over the summer break? What strengths can you translate from one setting to another?
The end of the post has a great list of questions to ask as you seek to identify strengths. My favourite ones are:
When does this child shine the most?
What are this child’s inner qualities that allow them to cope with stress and setbacks?
If disappointment hits during this end-of-year celebration season, arm yourself with their strengths and encouragement. Build on the strengths that your child has right now and celebrate who they are whether they receive an award or not. Celebration is an important part of this season. Help keep the focus on the good stuff.
