Wellbeing Hub
What is Bullying?
Sometimes it is difficult to pinpoint if behaviours are bullying, unkind or if we are being hypersensitive to someone's words or actions and need to develop coping skills and build resilience.
Developing Friendship Skills
The shift from home, where they are valued and loved, to school, where not everyone gets along, is a challenge all children face. Learning friendship skills is the basis of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is highly predictive of success in work and relationships in adult life.
Ideally children use school as a way to broaden their relationships, and this sets them up for being able to work with and relate to a variety of people
during their adult years. It is a strong human desire to belong. Belonging protects us and lessens anxiety. Understandably some children think that ‘if I can just replicate that close caring relationship I have with Mum or Dad with one or two close special friends at school, all will be fine’.
However, becoming reliant on only a few friends has its dangers. Most people connect and reconnect with friends as they move through
their lives. Learning to cope with the ebb and flow of human relationships while remaining true to yourself gives people confidence and courage. At times, we all need to have the confidence to endure setbacks in friendships and the courage to be ourselves.
How parents can help children develop friendship skills parents can:
• Encourage friendships outside school.
• Model having a range of friends and how to meet new people.
• Increase social activities for the family with a range of people.
• Keep in touch with extended family members.
• Encourage the idea of being friends with an array of people rather than just being close to a few people.
Source: Advice Sheets: Being Left Out, 2013, Department of Education and Training, Andrew Fuller - Clinical Psychologist
Last month, our community was invited to a free screening of parenting documentary 'Seen'. It was a wonderful night of reflection and a chance to talk about the challenges of parenting. For those who missed it, the documentary is being shown in places around Australia (see website for screenings) and is also being offered online for a small fee ($22). Those who attended had the opportunity to reflect on their parenting styles, their value systems and beliefs, and how these impact our decision-making and responses when supporting our children. There is something for everyone and we encourage you to watch it if you are able to.
About the Film & The Impact:
We live in an age where, as parents and caregivers, there is more information than ever before. How much screen time is the right amount of screen time for our children? How best can we manage our children's daily meltdowns? Time in, time out, clear boundaries, feel all the feelings - what's best? We are hearing more and more reactive advice on how best to manage our children, yet we are missing the root cause and solution.
Advice about how best to raise a child is not new. And yet, as recent studies demonstrate, our children are struggling more than ever before. This is a tired issue that needs a fresh understanding, brought to us by a collection of experts with evidence-based data. In sharing this new information, SEEN hopes to trigger mass awareness and a deeper understanding for individuals, leading to bottom-up change in families throughout Australia and beyond.
SEEN will encourage parents to consider how their own past may be influencing their children.
Access:
Seen Online Screening Plus Live Q&A with Maggie Dent & Producer Sam Jockel
Date: 8 July • 19:00
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/seen-online-screening-plus-live-qa-with-maggie-dent-producer-sam-jockel-tickets-1381169447999?aff=ebdsshother&utm_share_source=listing_android&sg=a031d76ccb6cb2033b9b8d240e8d71d9bba57803912d0b0eb5f044cbca9cfa330fb30bd40e70860b9156291470d1092ab59390c7abc2529fb9e99a250f6ee8d1639b5a8c05a50936245c6a1793
Source: https://seenthefilm.com/
Mental Health & Wellbeing Resources
Kids Helpline or 1800 551 800
Kids Helpline is Australia’s only free (even from a mobile), confidential 24/7 online and phone counselling service for young people aged 5 to 25. Also has fact sheets and information about a range of topics for parents to support their children.
Access to trusted mental health and wellbeing information, online programs and digital resources.
Learn more about depression and anxiety or talk it through with our support service.
Phone: 1300 224 636 (24/7)
Email or chat online
A confidential, free and secure space where young people aged 12 to 25 or their family can chat, email or speak on the phone with a qualified youth mental health professional.
Phone: 1800 650 890 (9am – 1am everyday)
Access to crisis support, suicide prevention and mental health support services.
Phone: 13 11 14 (24/7)
Raising Children Network- https://raisingchildren.net.au/
Provides ad-free parenting videos, articles and apps backed by Australian experts.