Chaplain’s Spot
‘EXTERNAL Developmental Assets for Children’
Welcome to Term 4. As promised, here is the first 20 of the Developmental Assets which are vital for the growth of our children. You may not identify with all of them, but their resource has found all of these to contribute well to a child’s development. External assets are those positive experiences that occur through sources outside your child’s own internal world, such as family, school, daycare, and other adults. The Search Institute has focused on these four key external asset areas:
Support
Support your child with plenty of love, care and attention. Show you are interested in their passions and hobbies. Support them by answering questions and helping them work through issues. When you disagree or when they misbehave, make sure they still know you love them unconditionally.
(1) Give them family support by providing lots of love from all members.
(2) Communicate with them in positive ways, making sure they feel comfortable with you.
(3) Provide other positive adult relationships for them.
(4) Provide opportunities for them to experience caring neighbours.
(5) Encourage positive relationships with teachers and schoolmates, and make sure they are in a caring, encouraging school environment.
(6) Become actively involved in their school life, and help them succeed in school.
Empowerment
Empower your child to use their talents and abilities to help other people. Find community service projects. Encourage them to write letters to the local newspaper on issues that affect them in the community. Gradually increase the amount of control they have in their daily schedule.
(7) Ensure they feel valued and appreciated by the adults in their life.
(8) Include them in family meetings and decisions.
(9) When possible, involve them in your community service projects.
(10) Provide them with safe environments at home, in the neighbourhood, and at other care locations.
Boundaries & expectations
Set firm, yet reasonable, boundaries and high, yet realistic, expectations. Make sure other caregivers are providing consistent boundaries. Remain strong on boundary issues that affect their safety (i.e. wearing a helmet). Constantly challenge your child to do their best, and be available to help them with homework.
(11) Provide clear and consistent rules and consequences. Make sure you always know where they are.
(12) Make sure that their school provides clear rules and consequences.
(13) Encourage your neighbours to take responsibility in monitoring your child’s behavior.
(14) Provide several positive adult role models for your child.
(15) Encourage friendships with children who model positive, responsible behavior.
(16) Begin setting high, yet realistic, expectations for their performance at school and in other activities.
Constructive use of time
Find activities for them which will make constructive use of their time. Keep them engaged in a variety of activities and play. Give them opportunities for structured, adult-supervised activities outside of the home. Teach them basic time management skills so they can learn how to create a healthy work/play balance.
(17) Provide opportunities for your child to participate in music, art, drama or creative writing.
(18) Provide structured school or community activities for your child at least twice a week.
(19) Regularly attend religious services together as a family.
(20) Balance your child’s time at home between high-quality interaction with you, and free time alone or with siblings. Limit the amount of screen time.
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I have added some of my resources on to Compass, under the Compass documentation section. Categories include Strengths, Parenting and Families, Feelings, and Resilience. Feel free to check these out. They may be helpful for your family. I will refer to the ‘Growth Through Loss’ section later on.
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Have a great week! Feel free to contact me if you would like a chat about any concerns. We could perhaps meet at an appropriate time on your child’s Google Classroom if that is a good option for you.
Food fact For Kids: It takes about 50 licks to finish just one scoop of ice cream.-
Alan Silverwood – Chaplain - Pastoral care for our community. [Monday, Tuesday, Friday]
[alan.silverwood@education.vic.gov.au] Supporting the School community in emotional, social, spiritual and practical wellbeing. The Chaplaincy program is funded by the Federal Government, donations and GRPS School Council.