Dear Parents and Families,

As we continue to navigate and adjust to the changes and routines of being home, it is important to focus on the mental health of not only our children but also ourselves. Change can bring stress, uncertainty, sadness, and even anger. Our brains may be reacting in "fight or flight" mode, because we are presented with new challenges and worries that we are not typically accustomed to. Some of you may be balancing work, parenting, and assisting with learning, all in one day (that is 3 jobs!). I wanted to put together a list of strategies and tips to focus on mental health, because in order to support our children, we must also take care of ourselves!

1. Step away: take a mindful minute (or 30). Step away from the trigger of your stress, whether it is your computer, your work, or even your family. Walk away (even if it's just a few steps) and take some deep breaths, give your mind a different focus, get grounded, and then return with a new perspective. It's important to model this for our children, so they can see we get overwhelmed too, and we have to practice coping. We all need these "brain breaks" to recharge and refocus.

2. Reframe your negative thoughts (Growth Mindset). Compare, "I can't do this." to "I am still learning." I call these "Stinkin' Thinkin'" thoughts with my students, but adults do this too! If you hear yourself or your child make a negative statement, reflect on it, and re-frame it to something more positive.

3. Set daily goals for yourself (start small). These can be both work related goals and fun activity ones with the kids.

4. Remind your brain "I am safe", "I am ok", "my feet on are the ground". Bring yourself to the present to deflect the worries. The more we remind ourselves to get into the present, the less we allow stress to fill our minds. Focus on the "what can I do right now to fix this".

5. Connect with a buddy (a virtual one), a person you can call or FaceTime, who is going to listen and even give you a laugh. We need this outlet. We need to know we are not alone and have someone who will not judge us for the good or bad days. Schedule it, make the time for it, because it is SO important to have this connection while we are indoors.

6. Let go of what we cannot control. Unfortunately, we cannot control the Coronavirus or the quarantine, but we can control things that are happening inside our homes and our minds. We can control keeping ourselves safe by washing our hands, staying 6 feet apart when we have to go in public, and our perspective thinking on this topic. I personally think making a visual list of this is helpful of "I can control" and "I cannot control" and writing it down to see, that although we may feel many things are out of control right now, we are still in control of more than we realize.

7. Have Fun. Get outside, play board games, have some dance parties, and enjoy your family time! We need to make time for the fun more than ever right now!

8. Get your Sleep. Too much or too little can impact us greatly. Evaluate how much you and your children are getting, is it enough? There are some mindfulness apps to try to help assist with sleep.

9. Spread kindness. Kindness is empowering for our moods and for each other.

10. We are ALL in this together. We have an amazing school community, we are all in this and learning through this together.

I hope you find this helpful. I miss the Woodland Hill community very much and cannot wait for the day that we can all see each other again 🙂! -Bethany