COUNSELLING CONNECTIONS
News from College Counsellors Br Roger Vallance fms &
Mrs Marijke Keller
St Augustine's College Cairns
This week I would like to offer a small collection of ideas and readings that are pertinent as we come to the end of the first academic semester.
The ideas are:
- The impact of paternal positivity on a child's mental health
- The importance of adolescent resilience and how to build resilience
- Rethinking stress
- Vaping, some tools for parents
- School holiday ideas
The Impact of Paternal Positivity on a Child's Mental Health
Mothers and fathers play a key role in the health and development of their children. While mothers are still disproportionately responsible for childcare and household labour, fathers are now more involved in the daily care of children than in previous decades (Cabrera et al., 2018). As a practitioner working with families, understanding which fathering practices can improve a child's mental health is important for promoting wellbeing and effective parenting.
Developed by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, this short article summarises the findings of a meta-analysis conducted by Foster et al. (2022) which examined the impact of paternal positivity on a child's mental health.
Cabrera, N. J., Volling, B. L., & Barr, R. (2018). Fathers are parents, too! Widening the lens on parenting for children’s development. Child Development Perspectives, 12(3), 152–157
Resilience
A child’s resilience – their ability to bounce back from adversity or a traumatic experience – is something they develop over time. It’s a process, rather than an outcome, which ebbs and flows throughout a person’s life. For children, building resilience hinges on their ability to successfully navigate through stressful situations within an environment of positive and caring relationships.
This article explores ways in which practitioners can support children and families who are experiencing hardship, and identify positive relationships, strengths and opportunities for promoting resilience.
Rethinking Stress
Stress is not always a bad thing!
A certain level of stress is actually central to good performance: good stress allows an athlete and a student to perform at their best, to rise to meet the challenge. The generative, motivating, performance-lifting stress is called eu-stress, good stress, and the too stressed, degrading performance is termed dys-stress, bad stress. So, thinking about stress is not to avoid or minimise stress, but to optimise stress.
The helpful article asking us to rethink stress is available here.
Vaping – Some Tools to Help Parents
I will forgive you for thinking "vaping again!" Well, not quite. I link here for interested parents a whole set of tools to help you, parents, know better the issues related to vaping.
The Dovetail organisation is active in drug, alcohol and addiction issues among young people. Dovetail has compiled a series of resources for parents to better understand the issues around vaping so they can be better informed and also better resourced to educate their children.
School Holiday Ideas
Lastly, I have seen a number of posts for holiday activities for this coming academic break. I trust that you might find some free and fun activities that will be family-friendly.
Best School Holiday Activities in Cairns for Winter 2023
— Ideas for 10 fun free school holiday activities in Cairns June/July · Cairns
— Winter 2023 School Holiday Guide. School holiday guide Cairns.
School Holiday Activities Cairns | Fun Ideas for Winter 2023
— Find things to do with kids in Cairns with these school holiday activities Cairns style. From water parks to rainforest treks and kids' shows.
Ms Marijke Keller 0740529136 mkeller@cns.catholic.edu.au
Br Roger Vallance 07 40529135 brroger@cns.catholic.edu.au