GHPS Life

INTERSCHOOL SPORT 

Round 8: Friday 20th October

Greenhills B VS Apollo Parkways B – AWAY

Greenhills A - NO GAME DUE TO GLEN KATHERINE BEING ON CAMP. 

NORTHERN METROPOLITAN REGION PRIMARY TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS     

Congratulations to the below students who represented themselves and Greenhills PS at the Northern Metropolitan Region Primary Track & Field Championships. 

• Jackson H (3RM)
• Ryan D (4IH)
• Sophie M (4TW)
• Heidi K (5SM)
• Lachlan H (6BS)
• Gabby C (6LR)
• Ivy B (6TS) 

All students should be incredibly proud of their efforts - especially as these results put them in the top 50 in Victoria, for their age group and event. 

Special shout out to Sophie, Heidi, Lachlan, Gabby and Ivy, who finished 1st or 2nd in their event, meaning they are off to the State Championships in a couple of weeks. 

DVPSSA DISTRICT YEAR 3/4 NETBALL CARNIVAL

A great time was had by all Year 4 students who participated in last term’s DVPSSA District Year 3/4 Netball Carnival. Whether it was a win, loss or draw, all students represented Greenhills in the best possible way, showcasing the GREAT values at all times. Shout out to Greenhills 1 who finished 2nd in their pool. 

Congratulations to Emma T (4TW) and her Greensborough team, Janelle Calisthenics, who won 4 of 4 competitions this year in Sub-Juniors Division 1, including the North West (Division 1) State Championships during the school holidays. She’s enjoyed the physical challenge, performances and the teamwork involved.

Well done, Emma!

Congratulations to Poppy B (5SM) who ran her first 10km at the Melbourne Marathon last weekend, in a very impressive time of 1.02.00.

Well done, Poppy!

If your child achieves something special (grand final win, most valuable player award, best and fairest etc.), please email me (jordan.daley@education.vic.gov.au) through photos and an overview of the achievement to post in Contact. It is important to celebrate and recognise such successes with the school community.

Thank you, 

Jordan Daley

JSC NEWS

CONNECTED SCHOOLS

Parental Burnout 

By Justin Coulson

A 42-nation study published in 2021 shows high levels of stress in parenting is leading to parenting burnout at record levels, with the most individualistic countries showing the highest levels of stress. Society - that is… us - doesn’t support what makes families happy, kids flourish, and parents well.  But there are things we can do. This article outlines three essential elements for creating a happy family. Consider it a ‘back-to-basics’ reminder for those times when you’re over it, befuddled, and just want answers now.

Love

What do I really mean when I speak about ‘love’? There are a couple of sayings I’ve used for decades to outline what this is about. First off, to a child, LOVE is spelled T-I-M-E. If this statement is true (and I believe it is universally correct), what does ‘Hurry Up’ say to a child? Or ‘Calm Down’ or ‘Stop it’? Every one of us has said those things, often on a rushed morning when a child is refusing to cooperate, we’re feeling pressure, and the clock is ticking.  As an adult, if someone said those things to you - hurry up, calm down, stop it - would that improve your relationship and your behaviour? Or is it possible that things might escalate? Slowing things down is counter intuitive. However, experience has shown me that in close to 100% of cases, staying calm, pausing, and spending time with a child who’s feeling challenged (or providing you with a challenge!) makes all the difference.  Perhaps the main reason it works so well is because of the second saying I love to share when I talk about this topic: Just like dollars are the currency of our economy, connection is the currency of our relationships.

Slowing down allows us to connect with our children better. We connect when our child feels seen, heard, and valued. This will typically mean we have stopped what we’re doing, looked them in the eyes, and listened to them with the same intensity we might listen to the broadcast of the lottery numbers when each number corresponds with what’s on our hypothetical lottery ticket!

We’re often inclined to be dismissive, and we turn away with a well-intentioned “you’ll be ok sweetheart.” From time to time, we become annoyed and disapproving, turning against our children with anger, saying “that’s it, I’ve had enough! No more screens/time with friends etc. for you till Monday!

As justified as your anger and frustration towards this inconvenient child feels, as parents, we need to recognise that both responses rupture the relationship we have with our children. Our child comes to feel as though we don’t understand (even when they’re in the wrong). They feel stupid and incompetent. And they feel as though we’re always trying to be in control.

Studies indicate that we’ll do better in our family relationships when we (counter-intuitively) show more love when our kids are disobedient, challenging, or overwhelmed. It goes like this:

1. Stay level and balanced.
2. Name the emotion you’re seeing in your child. (“You’re having a really rough time, huh?”) 
3. Ask them if they want some space or want you near them.
4. Give them the time they need to feel safe and pull things together.
5. Invite them to work with you on a solution. (“What should we do to make this right?”)

Note. This is a super simplified version of the process. It will take some practice. But it outlines a general map of how to get from emotionally overwhelmed to connected and then focused on making things better. And you’ll note that this process keeps the relationship intact, helps the child feel like we believe in them (so they’re feeling capable and competent), and gives them a sense of control (so they don’t feel like they must fight with you about things).

There are other ways that we show love too: 

• It’s when we smile when our child enters the room (try it). 
• It’s when we squeeze them as we walk by them. 
• It’s when we walk to them before we speak, rather than shouting from one room to the next.
• It’s when we see them doing one of their chores and we go and help them with it.
• It’s when we remind them that we love them.
• It’s when we share a joke, text them (if they have a phone) just to say we’re thinking of them or share a story about our day with them because we know they’ll like it.
• Its bedtime snuggles, treats at the local cafe on a Saturday morning, a movie night, or a bike ride.

At the heart of all of these are those two critical elements: time and connection; slowing down and seeing, hearing, and valuing. Next time things are going bonkers, take a beat and try it. You’ll see things change for the better.

Limits

There has been more ink spilt on the topic of kids and limits than almost any other parenting issue. I’ve written entire books on the topic. For now, I’m going to focus on just a couple of things:

1. We fundamentally misunderstand what discipline means. 
2. Our focus should be on helping, not hurting. 
3. Collaboration is the ultimate way forward.

Let’s start with definitions. Look up discipline in the dictionary and one of the first definitions it will give you is punishment. And… that’s how most parents define discipline. When a child requires ‘discipline’ it means they’re going to experience punishment (often euphemistically called ‘consequences’ - which is the same thing in this case). However, this hasn’t always been the case. In Webster’s 1828 dictionary, discipline is defined as education; instruction; cultivation and improvement.  In short, discipline is about helping.

Punish is the word we most often associate with discipline, so let’s consider its meaning. The word punish means ‘to subject to pain, loss, confinement… as a penalty for some offence, transgression, or fault.’ Or it means ‘to inflict a penalty’ or ‘to abuse, mistreat, or hurt’. In a word, to punish is to hurt.

So… what do we do with our children when they require discipline? Do we help them, or do we hurt them? What might work best? Decades of studies have shown that hurting is ineffective. In fact, it’s counterproductive. If we really want to help our children, we do it best by working with them rather than doing things to them. To help, I’ve developed the 3 Es of Effective Discipline: Explore, Explain, and Empower.

When we explore, we walk through the steps I’ve outlined in ‘Love’, the first section of this article. It’s really about time-in, together, connecting. When we understand where our child is struggling, we move to explain.

When we explain, we keep it short and simple. Most of the time our children already know what is expected. So we restate, “You know, and I know, that hitting your siblings is not ok. We’re always working on managing our feelings and asking for help if we need it.”

Then, assuming they feel understood, and we know they get our expectations loud and clear, we empower. This does not mean we let them decide what should happen. It means we invite their ideas on how to move forward and offer gentle collaboration and guidance to help them figure things out. It might mean they apologise to someone who’s been hurt, make restitution for something lost, broken, or stolen, or simply promise to do better next time. This process ensures that relationships are kept strong, children know we trust their innate ability to figure things out and have a sense of control over outcomes. It’s the perfect trifecta. Plus, discipline decisions developed this way lead to greater buy-in from kids, and a deeper level of intrinsic motivation. Kids feel trusted and capable. 

Laughter

We tend to take parenting pretty seriously a lot of the time. And when that happens, we easily turn into cranky (or tired) parents. Parenting with fun in mind can be tiring. Yet… Laughter is a great form of stress relief! No joke ;)

A high-quality belly laugh stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain. It eases your stress/response system and helps you feel more relaxed.  The long-term benefits of loads of laughter include improved immune function, pain relief, increased life satisfaction, and greater happiness (the last one there is kind of obvious right?).

How do we get more laughter at home? Here are a few of my favourite suggestions:

• Rough and tumble play (but be careful to make sure it doesn’t end in tears!)
• Music and dancing - even in the kitchen, or when cleaning up
• Simple games like ‘spotto’, the yes/no game, or word association games
• Outings like a ride, walk, swim, kicking a ball, etc.
• Concerts at home where the kids are the stars of the show
• Spending time with friends
• Camping

Most families have something they love to do for fun. Laughter is an umbrella term for not taking life too seriously - and these ideas are just some of the ways that you can make this happen. Make family life fun.

Let’s not pretend… raising a family brings a certain amount of stress and challenge. Kids push boundaries. We feel exhausted and stretched. And sometimes everything simply feels like it demands effort. Building a life full of love and laughter (with appropriate and carefully developed limits) is a recipe for making things that little bit easier, and perhaps feeling optimistic about how things will turn out after all.

AUTHOR

Dr Justin Coulson

Founder of happyfamilies.com.au

Parents Partnerships Leader - Roslyn Mackie 

COLOUR RUN

Get your Colour on, Greenhills Parents Association is hosting a Colour Explosion Fun Run! 

Colour Explosion Fun Run Fun will be on Wednesday 8th November from 2:30pm to 3:30pm.

Not only are we hosting an awesome Colour Explosion Fun Run, Students can order up to a total of 5 prizes based on their donations received. They can even mix and match!

Students have received a sponsorship book with instructions on setting up their cybersafe, online fundraising profile at www.australianfundraising.com.au. This is an entirely online fundraiser; all cash donations must be converted to online donations to redeem your prizes.

Extra Incentives to Fundraise!

• Online Golden Coins – complete fun online tasks to redeem an extra $75 towards your prize credit.
• Monty the Monstar’s Bonus Prizes – achieve milestones to unlock Monty’s bonus prizes.
• $10,000 JB HI FI Spending Spree for one organisation’s highest fundraising student – it could be you!
• Our school will win an extra $5,000 if we have the highest average fundraised amount per student in 2023.
• A Play Station 5 Gaming Bundle – see your child’s sponsorship booklet for more!

For more information, please contact Sarah Leach at sarah.leach@education.vic.gov.au.

Happy fundraising!

CANTEEN

Helpers Needed

If you have a spare hour on a Wed, Thurs or Fri between 1pm and 2pm, come along and help in the canteen. There is no food preparation involved, it's very simple and the kids love seeing parents there!

You need to have completed the Volunteer Induction, and sign up through CareBookings - www.carebookings.com.au - access code is JGU9L.

Helpers get a canteen voucher for their kids to use for their next lunch order! 

Thanks, 

Miriam.

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

Term 4 Week 3 - Presented at Assembly 3rd of November 2023