My name is Anne Hoff. I am a parent, a Conscious Discipline Certified Instructor and a mental health consultant in a therapeutic preschool classroom. With our school’s sudden shift to distance learning due to COVID-19, I thought it would be helpful to reach out to the parents of the children in our program to support them with some basic Conscious Discipline tips. My hope was to create a connection with parents and offer encouragement as they take on the new role of supporting distance learning for their children.
In Conscious Discipline, Dr. Bailey says, “What we offer to others, we strengthen in ourselves.” While I hope these weekly tips are helpful to the parents I work with, I have found them to be helpful reminders for me as well. I’m sharing this video with you now in the hopes that you might find the content helpful, too.
In this, the first video I sent to our parents, I chose to focus on the Power of Perception.
The Power of Perception helps us shift how we see behaviors in our children, significant others and ourselves. When we lean into the Power of Perception, we can access our Skill of Composure, which helps us unhook ourselves from an upset state so we can be helpful to children.
In order for us to use the Skill of Composure with children, we must first practice adult active calming by taking three slow, deep belly breaths (keeping our exhale twice as long as our inhale), telling ourselves, “I’m safe, I can handle this,” and wishing our child well.
We can instill the Skill of Composure in children by teaching and practicing deep breathing techniques like S.T.A.R. during times of calm, and then modeling and reactivating these often-practiced techniques when they are experiencing an upset.
Conscious Discipline offers many free printables that encourage Composure, as well as a “Responding to Conflict” video with Conscious Discipline Certified Instructor Amy Speidel and a “Weaving I Love You Rituals into the Day” podcast with Conscious Discipline Certified Instructor Kim Hughes you might find helpful as you navigate these uncertain times with your family. I hope you will find these resources helpful and I wish you well on your journey.
Helpful Resources:
- Free Printables that Encourage Composure
- Responding to Conflict Webinar with Amy Speidel
- Weaving I Love You Rituals into the Day Podcast with Kim Hughes
- Power of Perception Webinar with Dr. Becky Bailey
- Breathing Choices
- Breathing S.T.A.R.
Product Mentions:
- Conscious Discipline Building Resilient Classrooms book
- Shubert is a S.T.A.R.
- Sophie is a S.T.A.R.
- S.T.A.R. Breathing Tool
More Helpful Resources:
Anne Hoff
Conscious Discipline Certified Instructor
Annie has been implementing Conscious Discipline in her personal and professional life since 2008. For over 20 years she has worked in a variety of human service and educational settings including: public and private school settings, community preschools, community mental health centers and early childhood programs.
More about Anne Hoff
