Helping your Kids Navigate Life After Graduation

This is it….the moment your child has been waiting for. Prom is over, the graduation cap has been decorated, and finals are complete. The last thing to do is throw that cap in the air and turn the tassel to the other side. They graduated! Your child should feel accomplished, excited, and relief all at once, but what happens the next day?

Think back to when you graduated high school. A few days after the excitement ended, and while you were waiting for either college, your new job, or whatever path you chose to start, you felt, well unsettled. Being in that weird state of waiting for the next thing to start can be anxious and unsettling. You're filled with a mix of emotions, on one hand you're happy that the culmination of 12 years of your life has ended and you've successfully completed this task known as high school. But on the other hand you're no longer faced with your usual day-to-day life. You won't see the teachers that you saw every day for years, the friends that you've known most of your life, and you won't have your parents holding your hand every step of the way. So how can you help your child during this transition period? There's no right answer. This is going to be a tough time for them. Some may take this in stride and look at it as a new challenge but others may feel nostalgic for what they once knew. But here are two important ways that you can help them navigate their life after graduation.

1. Help them adjust to change

Change is probably the biggest factor that causes hesitation when it comes to this new chapter. So help your child adjust! This can be done through a number of ways including breaking them out of their every day schedule, encouraging them to try new things over the summer, and embracing change with them by doing a new activity with them. If they're regular Monday mornings usually consist of going to school or going to practice, encourage them to get a summer job even if it's only for a few hours a day. Or ask them for help around the house or with errands. This will help create a new normal for them and will also help them understand that a break from the rigid schedule is not always a bad thing.

2. Game plan with them!

The biggest thing that comes with this anxiety is also uncertainty. Not knowing what your day today is going to be looking like or who your friends will be or how your classes will be feel like a huge burden for your child. Help them game plan by setting what your expectations are and what their expectations are and how you can achieve the. By helping them understand what their goals are , and creating a roadmap with them on how to get there, you'll help them alleviate the pressure of figuring it out on their own.

So I have one thing to say to you parents: congratulations on having a rock star kid! Now while this time might be an exciting and tricky one, I know that with your help your child is going to do great!

Teachers Appreciation Week 2022

What we learn from our educators

Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week, a national holiday that takes place during the first week of May. During this time administrators, parents, and students take the time to let their teachers know how much they appreciate and cherish their hard work. Some schools offer discounts to teachers on highly coveted items, while others offer school parties and lunches for the teachers. But after speaking to a teacher, I learned that what they want goes beyond the occasional classroom lunch and t-shirt. So this begs the question: what do America's Educators want?

1. A livable wage

On average, across the United States teachers make around $63,000 annually. Now if you are 21 and just starting your career, this seems like a feasible and fair salary. But when you are in your 6th year of teaching and making the equivalent of an entry to mid-level salary, it can be very discouraging. Considering the requirements to be teachers in many of our States, including having both a bachelor's and Master's and being certified, it seems that the end does not justify the mean. Oftentimes teachers accumulate massive amounts of debt to put themselves through post-secondary education. So a fair and competitive salary is only right.

2. Support

Teachers are often spread thin, working with numerous students and very little supplies. Oftentimes classrooms in areas that don't have as much funding can be one teacher to 30 students. Now think about it, one adult for a classroom full of 30 students is already quite the undertaking but now imagine that you don't have adequate supplies for your lesson. Teachers often have to take money out of their salary to supplement the supplies that they do not get from their schools. Teachers want to support and aid, and monetary funds are a big part of that. Aside from just wanting more funding, teachers also want more support from their administrative staff and parents. It can be hard when the administration is pushing unrealistic expectations of teachers. When teachers don't have adequate resources and support, you can't expect them to be able to help each child be an A+ student. Also, when teachers feel that they don't have the support of parents they can also get discouraged. When a teacher is constantly reminding students to do their homework and show up on time but parents also aren't having these conversations in the home, it can become burdensome on the teacher.

3. Emphasis on individual support

Many schools can oftentimes get carried away with test scores. This leads them to treat classrooms as a unit instead of caring for the individual student. Some students may require extra help or assistance, but get overlooked because of the push for high test scores. Also, some students may be just pushed through different grade levels without actually grasping the curriculum because schools don't want to seem as if they're underperforming. Other times, students that are genuinely struggling are labeled as problematic or lazy when what they truly need is extra individualized support. When teachers realize and recognize these needs but don't have the bandwidth or the support of the administration to do more, they can feel as if they failed their students. Many teachers would appreciate it if schools took the time to understand that students have individual needs when it comes to their learning goals and objectives.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure teachers love the discounts, the pizza parties, and the free swag, but there is so much more that needs to be done to aid our Educators. The burden cannot be placed on them alone and we all should work together to support them!