Spotlight On: Conscious Discipline - A Transformative Experience
We, as an entire center, have been taking Dr. Becky’s Conscious Discipline courses.
This is so much more than a “how-to” class. Conscious Discipline takes a transformative view on our interactions with EVERYONE, not just our students, which makes it an incredibly unique and humbling experience.
What is Conscious Discipline?
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Conscious Discipline is designed to completely transform the way we look at “discipline.” For generations we have looked at punishment and discipline as synonyms. We have created a divide of judgment between good and bad, pass and fail, win and lose, that encourages learning and behavior through fear.
All. Behavior. Is. Communication. If we only address the behavior, we are not addressing the needs causing the behavior that aren’t being met. The goal is not “to drive you crazy,” which they can’t do anyway, if you have control! They just do not know how to ask for what they need yet.
Conscious Discipline is a series of classes designed to give you empowering tools that help you communicate, guide, and encourage with LOVE, a force much more powerful and long lasting than fear. Check out the methodology link above for the four key tenants!
In order to help children build a foundation of discipline and emotional regulation within, we need to teach ourselves to be aware of what we are saying with our words. We need to catch ourselves in moments of heightened emotion, and break defensive habits that have been passed down from parent to child.
WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO JOIN US! How?
Here is a tried-and-true tool that we learned at the very beginning of our training. It’s called STAR BREATHING, you star!
Three deep breaths shut off the “fight or flight” system of the brain.
This active calming technique is an essential component of emotional health. Teach children to S.T.A.R.: Smile, Take a deep breath And Relax.
S.T.A.R. is one of four core breathing techniques in Conscious Discipline. The other techniques are Drain, Balloon and Pretzel. <—Click here to download a poster showing these different techniques to remind you and your kiddos how to calm yourself before you respond.
Giving yourself a chance to calm down gets you out of the “survival state.” Once you’re calm, if you’re still frustrated, repeat to yourself ”I am safe, Keep Breathing, I can handle this.” to keep the bad feelings at bay. Problem solving can commence once you are calm and ready!
We have made our Conscious Discipline Action Team and will be rolling out changes! Stay tuned, we will be sharing more things that we are implementing in our center to help transform early childhood education as we know it.
Love Love Love,
Your CG Family
Team Spotlight: Our 2s and 3s are ROCKING AUTUMN!
September is in full swing and our Dancing Monkeys and Rising Stars are really bringing Autumn into their classrooms! All of our lessons are rooted in full-body play and exploration, which means our littles get to really experience nature with their hands while they learn colors, numbers, and shapes!
In the Monkeys, our two year olds are playing with pine needles and leaves they collected themselves! In the Rising Stars, the three year olds are painting their own houses and learning how to be curious in circle time. Our teachers are amazing at letting kids become brave, independent learners who realize that the only thing FAIL means is “First Attempt In Learning.”
How can you bring Autumn into your daily life?
You can collect Acorns and Pinecones and discuss their role in the life cycle of trees.
You can do a leaf freeze dance!
You can have a sunset journal and talk about all the different things that happen in each season.
What else? Let us know in the comments! We will also post more lovely things our teachers are doing each newsletter!
Thanks again, Rising Stars and Dancing Monkeys! Our kiddos are lucky to have you.
— Your CG Family
