September 2019: Welcome Back To School!
Welcome back to all our returning students and families and welcome to all of our new students and families! We're so glad you're here and we are ready for another exciting, full, interesting year.
There's an old saying- some attribute it to a Chinese curse- "May your life be interesting." It's sort of a double-edged blessing/curse, isn't it? Because interesting doesn't necessarily mean positive or good- it could just as easily be negative and bad.
I think of the middle school years in that context- a double-edged blessing/curse. Sixth grade through eighth grade is such a full time. Academically, students are learning critical thinking and executive function skills across all content areas. Socially, they are learning how to interact, get along and resolve conflict with their peers and the adults in their lives. Physically, they are growing taller, maturing, and those hormones are often raging. Emotionally, they are feeling enormous feelings with deep intensity and every single one of those feelings is the biggest and brightest they have ever felt.
A perfect example of that duality can be found in the friendships over the first few months of school. New friendships are blooming and there is nothing quite as intense and vivid as those first few days, weeks, or months of middle school friendships: finding all the things you have in common, laughing so hard you can't breathe, a yearning to learn everything you can about that new friend, all kinds of inside jokes and shared experiences. But with that joy of new friendship, often comes the despair of old friendships changed or discarded, feeling excluded from other groups, and, sometimes, finding that new friendship can't stand up to the intensity, and instead of becoming solid, fizzles out. As I said, double-edged blessing/curse. Interesting.
So as we move into this new school year, I hope that all of us- students, staff, parents, community members- can embrace the entirety of the experience. All of the positive and not as positive, all of the interesting that we can find. Because as appealing as it may sound when we are overwhelmed and tired and running everywhere and juggling a zillion different things, a boring life isn't one we actually want. A boring life implies no growth, no change, no joy. An interesting life is one that takes the joy with the pain and that, ultimately, is what makes it worthwhile.
Looking forward to a smooth start to the year and can't wait to see what's in store for us!
If you're looking for some reading about parenting, family life, and life in general, check out Lisa Sugarman's books, How To Raise Perfectly Imperfect Kids And Be OK With It: Real Tips And Strategies for Parents of Today's Gen Z Kids and Untying Parent Anxiety (Ages 5-8): 18 Myths That Have You In Knots. Easy to read, good tips on connecting with kids without letting your own "stuff" get in the way- every parent will see some part of themselves reflected in these books.
*Full disclosure, the author, Lisa Sugarman, is a friend, but I read her work before I met her. Smart, useful, and down to earth information.
Here's to a great year ahead!
--Dr J
There's an old saying- some attribute it to a Chinese curse- "May your life be interesting." It's sort of a double-edged blessing/curse, isn't it? Because interesting doesn't necessarily mean positive or good- it could just as easily be negative and bad.
I think of the middle school years in that context- a double-edged blessing/curse. Sixth grade through eighth grade is such a full time. Academically, students are learning critical thinking and executive function skills across all content areas. Socially, they are learning how to interact, get along and resolve conflict with their peers and the adults in their lives. Physically, they are growing taller, maturing, and those hormones are often raging. Emotionally, they are feeling enormous feelings with deep intensity and every single one of those feelings is the biggest and brightest they have ever felt.
A perfect example of that duality can be found in the friendships over the first few months of school. New friendships are blooming and there is nothing quite as intense and vivid as those first few days, weeks, or months of middle school friendships: finding all the things you have in common, laughing so hard you can't breathe, a yearning to learn everything you can about that new friend, all kinds of inside jokes and shared experiences. But with that joy of new friendship, often comes the despair of old friendships changed or discarded, feeling excluded from other groups, and, sometimes, finding that new friendship can't stand up to the intensity, and instead of becoming solid, fizzles out. As I said, double-edged blessing/curse. Interesting.
So as we move into this new school year, I hope that all of us- students, staff, parents, community members- can embrace the entirety of the experience. All of the positive and not as positive, all of the interesting that we can find. Because as appealing as it may sound when we are overwhelmed and tired and running everywhere and juggling a zillion different things, a boring life isn't one we actually want. A boring life implies no growth, no change, no joy. An interesting life is one that takes the joy with the pain and that, ultimately, is what makes it worthwhile.
Looking forward to a smooth start to the year and can't wait to see what's in store for us!
If you're looking for some reading about parenting, family life, and life in general, check out Lisa Sugarman's books, How To Raise Perfectly Imperfect Kids And Be OK With It: Real Tips And Strategies for Parents of Today's Gen Z Kids and Untying Parent Anxiety (Ages 5-8): 18 Myths That Have You In Knots. Easy to read, good tips on connecting with kids without letting your own "stuff" get in the way- every parent will see some part of themselves reflected in these books.
*Full disclosure, the author, Lisa Sugarman, is a friend, but I read her work before I met her. Smart, useful, and down to earth information.
Here's to a great year ahead!
--Dr J
Thank you so much for the great reminders and the resources. It feels very reassuring to know that my daughter is in a school with such a supportive and knowledgeable counseling team.
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