The Bobcat Beat
January 27th, 2023
A Note From Mrs. Bateman...
It's been quite the week at BIA, as we have enjoyed every moment of celebrating Lutheran Schools Week! We've had fun dressing up, competing against each other in chapel family olympics, and seeing which class would come out on top in our Penny Wars (to be announced on Monday). We have also taken the time to celebrate what a special gift a Christian education is. We have prayed that God would continue to bless us, encourage us to grow in our faith (as well as our academics), and be with us as we go out into the world...sharing our faith with others. We fully understand the sacrifices that each family makes to provide a Christian education and we thank you for entrusting us with your children.
“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.'” Matthew 28: 8-20
There are a few things to make note of over the next few weeks:
- 1st - 4th-grade basketball begins next Monday. Take a moment to chat with Mr. Jones or Mrs. Noble if your child is interested in participating.
- Family Valentine Dance - sponsored by our Student Council is next Friday, February 3rd. Cone join us for a night of dancing and fun!
- Student & Family Talent/Comedy Show - Friday, March 10th. Information on how to participate will be coming home soon!
Happening Soon...
- 1st - 4th Grade Basketball Begins - Jan. 30th
- Presidents' Day - Feb. 20th - No School
- Learning Fair (Note the new date) & School Open House - Feb. 23
- End of 2nd Trimester - Feb. 24th
- Parent/Teacher Conferences - March 3rd - No School
- Spring Break - March 27th - 31st - No School
Blessings,
Andrea Bateman
Executive Director, Bethesda International Academy
Celebrating the Gift of a Lutheran Education - Lutheran Schools Week 2023
Monday - Crazy Hat & Hair Day
Tuesday - Superhero Day
Wednesday - Mismatched Day
Thursday - Pirate Day
Friday - Favorite Sports Team & Chapel Family Olympics
Students are Loving Lego League Robotics!
Know A Family Looking For a Change in 2023? We'd Appreciate You Sharing the Good News About BIA With Them!
February - Black History Month
This Week in Chapel...Mr. D Led Our Worship!
Supporting St. Jude Children's Hospital with our Offering
Is Your Child Aggressive?
9 practical tips to deal with Aggression in your Child
Covid-19 and ensuing lockdowns have led to temperamental issues in kids. These expert tips may be handy to deal with aggressive behavior.
Aggressive behavior entails any behavior that is performed deliberately and endangers or causes emotional and physical harm to oneself or someone else. Aggression is not unusual for children younger than 4 years of age, but kids outgrow this behavior by kindergarten. However, for many children, aggressive behavior tends to linger on, is not developmentally appropriate and disrupts personal, family and social life. It is also one of the most common referrals in child and adolescent clinics. As a parent, are you wondering how to deal with aggressive behavior?
Children display aggression in many ways- hitting, biting, tantrums, outbursts that could damage property or trying to manipulate others through threats. Various factors could set children off.
However, parents, teachers, and family can have an influence on how he/she responds. Altering conditions in a child’s environment can modify their behavior since pressures, violence, opportunities, and outcomes all shape the tendency to act aggressively or not.
Parenting tips to deal with a child’s aggressive behavior
1. Be in control of yourself and stay calm:
Responding to a kid’s emotional outburst with your own emotional outburst or a physical punishment like spanking is sure to create a vicious circle. Modelling appropriate emotion regulation and prosocial behavior, as well as reinforcing children to use these to achieve goals rather than aggression and destructiveness, is a way forward. Seek help from a professional if need be.2. Avoid giving in to aggressive outburst or temper tantrums: Buying your kid a toy car at the shopping mall because they lie down on the floor, scream, and hit, you can reinforce their inappropriate behavior and be rewarding in its own right.
3. Recognize and reward the good: Instead of rewarding only the extraordinary, a simple “I liked how you behaved when the guests were over” can help increase desirable behavior by praising it, making it more likely to be repeated.
4. Teach kids to identify, name and regulate emotions: Validating a kid’s emotions and feelings by saying “I see you’re feeling a little angry because you didn’t get the chocolate” can help them verbalize their feelings instead of expressing it physically by hitting or biting. Teach them strategies like counting backward from 100 to 1 before responding, so that their anger is under control. Redirect aggression by teaching the kid to punch a pillow instead of punching the wall.
5. Find the right re-enforcer: The reward being given, or unpleasant stimulus being taken away must be highly valued and delivered immediately following responses. All rule violations must lead to immediate withdrawal of desired stimuli. Rules following should be immediately and intensely rewarded from time to time.
6. Be consistent: Be sure to have a predictable response to a kid’s aggressive behavior. Rules should be the same across contexts and time, to avoid a double bind and confuse the child on how to behave.
7. Break coercive interaction patterns with kids: Marital discord, socio-economic stressors, mental illness in parents can lead to a coercive parenting style wherein parents have few positive interactions with children and punish them frequently, inconsistently, and ineffectively. They also negatively reinforce aggressive behavior by first responding with punishment or confrontation and withdrawing these when the child’s aggression increases. Thus, the child learns that escalation leads to parental withdrawal and develops an aggressive relational style.
8. Drop the hostile attribution bias: It is important to view your kid as a good child with bad habits that are triggered by certain stimuli and reinforced by certain consequences. You should do this instead of attributing aggressive behavior to internal, global, stable negative factors which can further provoke negative behavior from the child.
9. Monitoring: Use a chart to monitor antecedents and consequences of specific positive and negative behaviors. It reflects how the child’s behavior is partly controlled by antecedents and consequences. It could also shed light on the way aggressive behavior may be reduced by altering antecedents or consequences.
Solutions to reduce aggressive behavior by altering consequences include ignoring minor displays of such behavior and using time out or deprivation of privileges as a response to aggression.
About Us:
Email: abateman@biachicago.com
Website: www.biachicago.com
Location: 6803 North Campbell Avenue, Chicago, IL, USA
Phone: 773-743-0800
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