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You are here: Home / Your Child's Education / After-School Meltdowns: Practical Strategies to Get Ahead of Crying and Whining

August 22, 2017 By Alana Pace 1 Comment

After-School Meltdowns: Practical Strategies to Get Ahead of Crying and Whining

If you have faced regular after-school meltdowns, don’t worry. Here are powerful, practical tips for kids to get ahead of crying and whining.


 

We had just arrived home after a challenging road trip home. My oldest son was sick and upset the whole way home. The baby wanted to nurse endlessly. On top of it, we had driven home in terrible traffic.

 

My happiness reserves depleted around the 200km mark into our 450km trip. I was in survival mode from then on. When pulled up to our driveway, I basically fell out the car door.

 

My daughter, on the other hand, bounded from her booster seat. She was spritely. Her eyes sparkled. As my husband and I unpacked the car, she raced to the mailbox and looked up at our box with elation.

 

She was antsy with anticipation because the mail contained a letter that told us whose class she would be in next year.  As my husband ripped open the envelope, she shook with anticipation. She squealed as she found out who her teacher was. Honestly, I doubt there’s an answer she wouldn’t have been happy with. Now, she has a countdown of how many more sleeps until she’s back to school.

 

While her excitement about school has absolutely captured my heart, I’m bracing myself a bit too. You see, school has been both the best and worst of times for my precocious child. My daughter gives school her all. As such, she comes home fried. 

 

I remember the first time I picked her up from preschool. I had been counting down the minutes until I could go get her. While I was thrilled to be reunited with her and hear all about her day, she was irritable and despondent. As preschool carried on, I began to brace myself for anger, tears, and difficult behaviour.

 

Three years into this kids-in-school endeavour, I have become much more proficient at getting ahead of after-school meltdowns. Below you’ll find the practical strategies I use to get ahead of after-school meltdowns. They’re practical, easy, and powerful too.

 

If you have faced regular after-school meltdowns, don't worry. Here are powerful, practical tips for kids to get ahead of crying and whining. Positive Parenting strategies. Parenting from the Heart

 

After School Meltdowns: How to get ahead of crying and whining

Get their blood sugar up fast.

Click here to continue reading.

 

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Filed Under: Positive Parenting Strategies, Posts, Readers' Favourites, Your Child's Education Tagged With: after school advice, back to school, education, Parenting, parenting from the heart, positive parenting strategies

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Hi! I'm Alana. When I'm not nursing cold, stale coffee, I usually can be found with the baby on my hip, barefoot, and racing after my two older kids. Thanks to a degree in psychology and a free-range childhood backing onto an expansive evergreen forest, positive parenting and play-based learning are my passions. Read more here.

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Alana-Parenting From The Heart
Every. Day. Via Matt Beaudreau Every. Day.

Via Matt Beaudreau
I remember in my earlier days of parenting when I I remember in my earlier days of parenting when I had two under two so much of my life was spent thinking I’ll be happy when…

I’ll be happy when they sleep through the night.

I’ll be happy when my husband doesn’t have to work such late hours.

I’ll be happy when I look and feel like myself again and not a feeding troth 😬😬😬

As it turns out this struggle with finding happiness isn’t unique to me or parenting. 

Collectively our mental health is suffering, but there are many research backed ways to improve happiness. (Link in bio to read more).
♥️♥️ via Heather Shumaker ♥️♥️

via Heather Shumaker
THIS. 🙌🙌 (Follow Maryfairy Boberry) THIS. 🙌🙌 (Follow Maryfairy Boberry)
👣 via @creativechildmag 👣

via @creativechildmag
via Happy as a Mother 🙂❤ via Happy as a Mother 🙂❤
Though there are countless people who understand t Though there are countless people who understand the importance of positive, responsive parenting, the idea that young children should self-soothe remains a prevalent belief.

Though this ideology is well-intentioned, it actually goes against what we know about human development.

Babies come into the world highly dependent on responsive caregiving not only for nurturance and protection but also to foster social and emotional development.

While it may seem that leaving a child to cry will help her learn to cope, it actually floods her brain with cortisol. She doesn’t learn to self-soothe but instead to shut down.

Though it may seem counterintuitive to some, independence is fostered through responsive care. The less stressed a child feels, the safer he feels to explore his world. The less stressed he feels, the more appropriate his emotional responses become.

This is first seen in late infancy but pervades through childhood and adulthood.

Have any questions about these findings? Feel free to comment below or send me a message!
❤️❤️❤️❤️ Teach Through Love ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Teach Through Love
via @unconditional_parenting. via @unconditional_parenting.
via The Outnumbered Mother via The Outnumbered Mother
❤❤❤ ❤❤❤
😂 😂
So often independence and attachment are thought t So often independence and attachment are thought to be mutually exclusive.
However, research shows that in order for children (and adults) to be independent, they need to feel safe and secure within their closest relationships. In childhood, this means having caregivers who respond to distress and both emotional and physical needs.
In adulthood, people who have responsive and caring partners feel more stable and comfortable being independent.
So hold and comfort those babies.
Hug and respond to your kids.
Love and hold space for the adults you are closest to.
Attachment fosters independence.
Absolutely this. Via Living FULL Absolutely this. Via Living FULL
🙏🙏🙏 (Couldn't help but laugh at that last 🙏🙏🙏
(Couldn't help but laugh at that last one)
via Scary Mommy
Love this so much! via Nourishing Our Children Love this so much! via Nourishing Our Children
Yes 👏👏👏 via @DissociativeDiaries Yes 👏👏👏
via @DissociativeDiaries
via Domari Dickinson via Domari Dickinson
🙏🙏🙏 (Couldn't help but laugh at that last 🙏🙏🙏
(Couldn't help but laugh at that last one)
via @scary mommy
"This year, I changed my assessments by adding a p "This year, I changed my assessments by adding a piece of paper at the end, asking, 'What else do you know about the topic, that I didn’t ask you about?'

Another teacher suggested this idea online about a year ago – I wish I could remember who it was! – and I thought, 'BOOM. I want to do this.'

Answering the question is completely optional, and when students do show more understanding on the sheet than they did on their assessment, I’ll point it out to them. Sometimes I’ll write, 'The learning wasn’t shown in your assessment, but I can see you do know this from what you wrote at the end.'

Afterward, I’ll follow up with them about how to recognize and answer test questions asked in different ways. Clearly, in cases like this, they understand the material but aren’t able to formulate an answer in response to the way I posed the question. I’ll point out to them that while it’s great that they’ve shown me their learning, they won’t always have a chance to answer assessment questions in an open-ended way, and I want them to succeed when they encounter assessment-style questions in the future.

I love what this change has done. This strategy has made my assessments more inclusive. It helps me communicate to my students: When I assess your understanding, I’m looking for what you DO know."
—Teacher Julie Arsenault via @teacher2teacher
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