Wellbeing 

 

Maintaining Wellbeing

At times when students are missing their friends, Wellbeing is a significant concern. There is no silver bullet to caring for and growing your own and your children’s Wellbeing. Just like the dashboard in your car, no single gauge tells you how well your car is running, but rather it is a combination of all of the important information you possess. One helpful acronym for wellbeing is PERMAH, as Wellbeing relies on a combination of all of them. A shortfall in one adversely affects the others, and in these current uncertain times, this could easily occur should we all not be vigilant. As James Baldwin said, “Children (and adolescents) have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.”  Some simple things you can do to support Wellbeing include:

 P – Positive Emotions + Gratitude: it is the frequency of positive emotions, not their intensity, which has the greatest influence on growing your own and your children’s wellbeing. For everyone, social connection is the best way to achieve this. To self-generate positive emotions, try these things: exercise first thing every morning, text a friend who is struggling, aim to do three kind acts every day and Facetime grandparents.

E – Engagement + Mindfulness: your own negative mind chatter, which causes you to experience fight or flight responses will probably be the biggest thing for you to control and overcome. Remember your children are likely to imitate you. To focus yourself try: create positive I can and I will self-talk statement to combat the negatives, colour in for ten minutes and breathe deeply and slowly.

R – Relationships + Empathy: other people are the best antidotes for life’s ups and downs. Use Zoom, Skype and Facetime for you and your children to see happy and smiling faces, break out Uno, Scrabble and other fun games to generate laughter, have fun cooking up hot cross buns, and do Wellbeing Fitness Challenges together. Secondary students can access the new PDHPE Wellbeing and Practical Tile on The Hub for resources and ideas.

M – Meaning + Purpose: in these times, feelings of vulnerability are perfectly normal for both you and your family. To relieve these feelings, having a strong sense of purpose to focus on something bigger than yourselves to devote your energies to, will assist. As a family, make cards to drop in the letterboxes of elderly people in your street, make fun family videos, and as a family follow and learn about a caring charity.  See the separate article on Paper Hearts.

A – Accomplishment + Optimism: to cultivate feelings of optimism in your family that together you can influence your own futures, set a goal or task each day. Try starting a vegetable garden with your children, paint a room or piece of furniture, do one extra sit up or push up, encourage your children to complete one thing at a time from their teachers or an online wellbeing activity.

H – Health + Strengths: to keep your own and your children’s immune systems strong, focus on the big five – healthy fresh eating, one hour’s exercise, at least 8 hours sleep, drinking plenty of water and looking on the bright side of life. An uplifting family activity is to identify your top character strengths by doing the free online Strengths Survey at www.viacharacter.org. Everyone puts their strengths on the fridge and tries spotting them.

Acknowledgement: Mick Walsh. www.learningcurve.com.au

Calrossy Primary Five Ways to Wellbeing