Wellness Wednesday

From Ms. Kusunose

What is HOPE?

Hope is to cherish with anticipation. Hope is to want something to happen or be true. (Merriam-Webster). For children, hope is believing things can be better.

For Student:

Read a fairy tale in a comfortable spot at home. How do you know the character believes in HOPE? How are you like this character and hope?

Here’s a list of multicultural fairy tale books on the Seattle Public Library website!

Multicultural Fairy Tales

Kid President and Hope

For Student & Family:

A good Kid President talk to watch together and talk about: Another Pep Talk from Kid President

For Parents:

I appreciate the message in the following article on how to teach hope to children. Parents, take a look: Value of Hope

Songs About HOPE

From Ms. Mutter

Hope is a word that just feels good. To be hopeful, rather than hopeless, is inherently optimistic. The positive energy hope creates within ourselves can be a self-fulfilling prophecy, helping us to manifest our dreams and desires. I just love hope!

Studies show that hope can help with academic success (think Growth Mindset), and it can also assist with emotional and social success and wellbeing. Instead of dwelling on past mistakes or past problems, we are looking to the future with optimism and lessons learned. It puts pep in our step and encourages us to take action towards the reality we want for ourselves and for others.

I think this virtue or mindset is especially important during times of crisis. We are currently being challenged to cultivate hope within ourselves, for some of us more than ever. And one of its most powerful aspects is that it is so very contagious. For the little ones in our lives, we can be modeling hope and resilience in the face of adversity.

An activity that I like to teach kids who seem to feel "stuck", is to have them journal/write/draw a wish or an ideal. Counselors call it the "miracle question". If you awoke tomorrow and a miracle were to happen, what would that look like for you? And more importantly, what can you do to help that happen? When we really reflect on this for ourselves, we can begin to manifest it in our lives, and the picture of what we want and our action steps become clearer. It is incredibly empowering.

I came upon an article here that discusses the importance of hope when we are bombarded with hopelessness, and ways that we can cultivate this in our children. And I loved this article that has some great hands-on activities to really bring the concept of hope to life for kids.