St. Joseph School

February 2012

The concept of balance in life is one that I often address with students, in ways that are appropriate for their age and developmental stage.  With the younger students, it might be as simple as being sure we have enough time for school work, play, and sleep.  With the older students, it might entail a classroom session devoted to time management in order to help them learn about prioritizing activities so that there is room enough to participate in things we enjoy while also doing well in school.

I recently attended a seminar featuring Dr. Dan Siegel whose model of “The Healthy Mind Platter” is loosely based on the food pyramid so familiar in guiding our nutritional choices.  Dr. Siegel maintains that just like the food pyramid, where varied food choices contribute to a healthy diet, so do healthy mind activity choices lead to increased well-being and learning.  I’ll share a few of these with you this month and the rest in subsequent articles.

According to Dr. Siegel, a well-balanced person, child or adult, spends time in most of these activities on the majority of days.  Of course, there will always be days where the plan just doesn’t work, but the idea is to work toward balanced days most of the time.  The first is focus time during which we closely focus on tasks in a goal-oriented way, such as in school or during homework.  Certainly, school work warrants significant focus time, making use of the others all the more vital.  Second is play time.  During play time we allow ourselves to be creative and spontaneous, possibly attempting new activities, a good counterbalance to the intense focus time students spend.  Third is connecting time during which we connect with other people in person or possibly enjoy a connection to nature.  The idea here is to reinforce relationships and further develop interactive skills.  Texting and email don’t count!  In person communication is best because it entails so much more than just words.  Maybe just starting to pay more attention to one of these activities is enough to work on for now.

On another note, once again this year, St. Joseph School parents will be invited to attend an evening of presentations on topical parent/child issues.  All the local schools, including St. Joseph, work to prepare an evening intended to be helpful to you.  This year our presentations will be targeted toward parents of students in grades kindergarten through 6.  I’ll keep you informed as to the date and time – look for a sign up form in a future issue of the Knight News.

Nancy Hanrahan
School Counselor