I’ll be sharing a lot of articles this week on Transition as it relates to children and parenting.
I highly encourage you to look back at your week 1 and week 2 and identify the transitions that YOU and YOUR family are going through and what areas you want to work on that are specific to you. Then do your own research this week.
Read the articles shared on the yayamamas Facebook page or do an online search for what your family needs. I can’t guarantee this will give you any answers or even the right ones for you…but it can give you some thinking points. Every family is different. Look back over your observations to gain insight specific to you.
Review Your Transitions
Do an online search as mentioned above. Write down research points that jump out at you or ring true.
Preparation
What if you took some time to organize our transitions…would it be helpful? Getting things ready the night before? Have the bath stuff out? Meal plan? Find ways to involve your children in prep work for transitions, write them down.
Emotions & Transitions
Everyone is allowed to feel the way they do about life. Even children. Especially children. Acknowledge emotions. Even in young kids (i.e. “You’re really mad right now. You don’t want to do that.”) Acknowledging that you understand how someone is feeling strengthens your connection with that person. As a parent, you can still hold the boundary and guide them through transitions while showing you understand how they feel about them. How could you shift your perspective about transition and emotion? How could you acknowledge your children’s emotions more?
Good News
I have good news. Transitions are temporary by nature. If you feel stuck in a transition, know that it will end soon. Try to keep this in mind when transitions arise. They are bridges. You are the guide. Write this 100 times. Just kidding. You don’t have time to do that, but write it at least once.
Transition Tool: Markers
There are moments of transition that are just part of our daily routines. We can “mark” these shifts for ourselves and children by having something you say, sing, or do every time that signals an expected change is coming. Markers take your routine to the next level. For example, as our family walks into the homeschool room each morning, I start to sing the ABC song. The girls sing along. This simple marker during our routine helps them shift into school mode.
Markers create a feeling of security when done consistently. Security is key during transitions.
I repeat, security is key.
Security in you as a confident leader, predictable routines, consistency, calm, etc. Need to know more? Include markers in your research this week. What markers could you use to make transitions more obvious and pleasant?
Modeling
In week 1 we talked about what kind of model you are during transitions. Has what you model shifted during these past weeks? Write about any shifts or improvements you’ve noticed because of changes in you.
Ask for Help
Sometimes giving children an active role during transitions (i.e. “Here, can you please carry this to the car for me?”) helps ease transitions. Make them active participants. Give them a task as you move from one activity to the next. List ways you could involve each of them individually in the transitions.