Winter has been an exciting season in the Lower School gym. Some fun units the children participated in include FRA Winter Olympics, Indoor Hockey, Dr. Seuss’s Birthday Centers and Beach Week. In our annual FRA Winter Olympics, the students experienced curling, the l … Details

  Winter has been an exciting season in the Lower School gym. Some fun units the children participated in include FRA Winter Olympics, Indoor Hockey, Dr. Seuss’s Birthday Centers and Beach Week.

In our annual FRA Winter Olympics, the students experienced curling, the luge, bobsledding, speed-skating and cross-country skiing. They learned about these events, practiced, then competed with good sportsmanship. With the Indoor Hockey unit, we worked on stick handling, passing and shooting before finishing with full-court games. To celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday, the students moved around the gym to centers named after many of his books. Cat in the Hat, The Foot Book and Yertle the Turtle are some of the favorite examples. The unit before spring break, Beach Week, involved activities done at the beach. The children body surfed across the gym on scooters, played beach ball and did the limbo, all to beach music. 

Coaches Street and McDonald look forward to spring in physical education. Thank you for sharing your children with us.

                       …Ken McDonald, Physical Education/Varsity Soccer

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  Supporting Sibling Friendships by Patty Wipfler   Some overall assumptions   Children are naturally deeply interested in other children, and are drawn to each other. They want to lov … Details

  Supporting Sibling Friendships

by Patty Wipfler

 

Some overall assumptions

 

Children are naturally deeply interested in other children, and are drawn to each other. They want to love and be loved by each other.

 

Children have giant-sized needs for warm, relaxed attention from adults. They legitimately need our availability, our direct attention, and our ability to think about their needs.

 

When children don't get the attention they require, it creates an emotional hurt. Every child has been hurt in this way—we don't have enough resource around young children to prevent them from feeling disappointed and rebuffed.

 

Often, children store these feelings up, because there's no one available to listen to how they feel. Then, when a parent pays obvious attention to a sibling, another adult, or on the telephone, the child with stored hurts notices the attention going to someone other than him. This re-stimulates his feelings of need—which feel urgent even if he has had lots of attention. The feeling of need is "frozen" into the child because the stored hurt hasn't yet been released.

 

The way children naturally, but highly inconveniently, release their feelings of hurt and regain their sense of satisfaction with their lives is through laughter, crying, tantrums, raging, perspiring, and trembling. When they are upset, they gravitate toward showing feelings, either directly, or by pursuing behavior that you must stop, creating a trigger, or pretext, that opens their feelings up with you close by.

 

Listening to a child's feelings without judgment, lecture, or blame is a great way to help your child recover from his upset with you or with a sibling. At the end of a good cry, a child has much more room for love and cooperation, because his upset has been heard and dissolved.

 

Our children's squabbles re-stimulate lots of old feelings in us, so that it's often hard for us to intervene without causing more hurt. We need listening time to help us work through our frustrations and our fears about their upsets they have. We need a chance to release the feelings that rise in us when the fighting starts.

 

Some reassurances

 

Every child has feelings of jealousy and anger toward siblings. These are never the only feelings a child has, although they are often the major feelings we, the parents, notice.

 

Most children spend lots of time loving and cooperating with their siblings and the needs of their siblings. We parents tend not to notice this. When the children are getting along fine, we often have our attention directed on other tasks—cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, or working all day.

 

 

Practices that will help keep you in good contact with each child

 

Regular Special Time with each child helps keep children's sense of your caring for them intact. When times get hard they are able to work through their feelings more easily because you've "been there" for them recently.

 

Intervene with your attention, or with five minutes of Special Time at the first hint that one child is going "off track." Catching a difficulty early gives you a chance to connect with your child before your upsets have brewed, and before someone has been hurt or insulted. It's always easier to connect with a child before any upsets have been acted out at a sibling.

 

Apologize when you didn't get there in time to prevent a fight. “I'm sorry I didn't notice how upset you were! I didn't get here in time to keep hard things from happening! Tell me what went on.” Your children will be able to like each other more easily after the fight if neither is blamed for the upset. They also will be better able to release their feelings of hurt if you take responsibility for keeping things safe in the family.

 

When you've arrived at a fight scene, keep the children from hurting each other. Allow all the crying and raging you can stand. Try to have gentle physical contact with both children or firm contact (if you're keeping them from hurting each other). Take it slow. Ask them in turn what the matter is, and listen back and forth. The release of feelings is the most important thing. Give the situation time. A hurried solution won't stick well.

 

You will have many times when one child has hurt another and run away. Vary your response, sometimes spending only a minute with the victim, and going to pay attention to the aggressor, other times, spending time with the victim first. Both children need your help. Usually, the aggressor child feels guilty, and looks like he couldn't care less about his sibling. Don't be fooled. This child has "gone remote" and can't show feelings. He didn't want to get lost in upset, and needs your love to get back to himself again.

 

…Legan Moore, Lower School Guidance Counselor

 

 

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Thanks to all students (and parents!) for the reading and recording of books during the Lower School Library’s 2012 “Paws” to Read program. The deadline for submitting sheets has now passed and we are making final tallies of the cat cash/doggie dollars earned by students. We wi … Details

Thanks to all students (and parents!) for the reading and recording of books during the Lower School Library’s 2012 “Paws” to Read program. The deadline for submitting sheets has now passed and we are making final tallies of the cat cash/doggie dollars earned by students. We will soon be purchasing the pet care items they select for donation to the animal shelter.

As we have read about pets and discussed the need for adopting animals, we have enjoyed assembly visits from some wonderful dogs. Director of the Williamson County Animal Shelter, Doug Brightwell, demonstrated the joy of pet adoption with Murphy, his own rescue dog. Parent Nicole Whitaker brought Diamond and described the work of trained therapy dogs. Susan Akers visited with Dan, her companion and assistant as she counsels Middle School students.

We are still enjoying the wonderful pictures of students with their pets!

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MENU OF THE WEEK: Mon., Mar. 12: Beef Macaroni & Cheese, Fresh Vegetable Choice, Baked Potato Bar Tues., Mar. 13: Carved Roast Beef, Roasted Red Potatoes, Breakfast Bar Wed., Mar. 14: Roast Pork Loin, Mashed Potatoes, Fresh Vegetable Choice, Chicken Tenders & Frenc … Details

MENU OF THE WEEK:

Mon., Mar. 12: Beef Macaroni & Cheese, Fresh Vegetable Choice, Baked Potato Bar

Tues., Mar. 13: Carved Roast Beef, Roasted Red Potatoes, Breakfast Bar

Wed., Mar. 14: Roast Pork Loin, Mashed Potatoes, Fresh Vegetable Choice, Chicken Tenders & French Fries

Thurs., Mar. 15: Poppy Seed Chicken, Rice Pilaf, Fresh Vegetable Choice, Soft Beef Tacos

Fri., Mar. 16-25: Spring Break Holiday

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REMINDERS 1. Parents, please notify the Lower School office of any change of address. 2. LOST AND FOUND ITEMS located across from room 116, Foreign Lang. UPCOMING EVENTS Mar. 16-25:  Spring Break Mon., Mar. 26:  Varsity baseball … Details

REMINDERS

1. Parents, please notify the Lower School office of any change of address.

2. LOST AND FOUND ITEMS located across from room 116, Foreign Lang.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Mar. 16-25:  Spring Break

Mon., Mar. 26:  Varsity baseball vs USN, home, 4:15 p.m.

Tues., Mar. 27:  Fathers Breakfast, 7:00-7:30 a.m.

                        Varsity soccer vs Ezell-Harding, home, 6:30 p.m.

Wed., Mar. 28:  Varsity baseball vs USN, away, 4:15 p.m.

Thurs., Mar. 29:  Varsity baseball vs Antioch, home, 4:15 p.m.                 

                        Varsity soccer vs Goodpasture, away, 6:00 p.m.

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ENRICHMENTS Golf begins March 29 th and ends May 10 th .  Places are still available, if interested. Chess ends March 28 th . Lego Adventure begins April 16 th and ends May 21. If you are interested, t … Details

ENRICHMENTS

• Golf begins March 29^th and ends May 10^th.  Places are still available, if interested.
• Chess ends March 28^th.
• Lego Adventure begins April 16^th and ends May 21. If you are interested, there are still a few places available.                       

EXTENDED DAY: Extended Day is available for working parents as well as those who occasionally need after-care. If you are interested in a contract, please contact Janice Martin (831-0769), or e-mail her at martinj@frapanthers.com. if you need the service. If you have an emergency and need after-care, just call the Extended Day office or Becky Messick. Morning drop-in cost is $7 and starts at 7:00 a.m. We offer a 5:00 or 6:00 contract for afternoon drop-in. The cost for a drop-in is $20 per day, payable when you pick up, and is available any day with the exception of early dismissal days.

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Helping Hands is a support group which serves our FRA families during difficult times such as illness or injury in the family, bereavement or in other situations. The Helping Hands Support Group offers care to these families in the form of meals, carpooling of children, a note of concern, or in … Details

Helping Hands is a support group which serves our FRA families during difficult times such as illness or injury in the family, bereavement or in other situations. The Helping Hands Support Group offers care to these families in the form of meals, carpooling of children, a note of concern, or in anyway they can be of assistance. If you know of an FRA family in need of some TLC, please contact one of the school secretaries. We are so thankful that we can be a blessing to those in need. Lower School: Becky Messick at 832-8845

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