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Celebrating Accomplishments
Rachel Perks • Jul 03, 2021
Celebrating Accomplishments
The other day, my son and I were on our usual dog walk and he was complaining about two boys that had hurt his feelings at school. We worked through how he felt and what he could do differently the next time. Then, as we continued to walk, I took the chance to change the focus to “Wow, what a year it has been!” I asked Clyde what he could do now that he couldn’t do before he started going to Ms. Cara’s (his Montessori teacher). At first he couldn’t think of anything. So I threw out some ideas, “Read,” “Write,” “Basic math,” “Share.” The list went on. Notwithstanding my son’s rather inflated sense of self—ie: “Momma I already knew how to do those things” which was clearly not true)—I saw his face start to light up as he considered his accomplishments. Indeed, we ended up at a list of 100 things that he can now do that he couldn’t do in September 2020. Not just because of school but to do with life and learning in general. We arrived home in a different mood then when we had set out on our walk.
Tomorrow we are going to gather a few friends over pie and ice cream to celebrate these accomplishments. Some may balk at a ‘graduation’ for a 5 year old from Pre-K. But man, given the extremes we have been living in, why not? We all deserve to celebrate a bit and why not acknowledge how far your children have come in navigating this strange world?
Planning Family Time
Next week is the start of two weeks of ‘no school’ where parents normally rush around trying to find summer programs to place the kids before their school programs might open up. Being disorganized, in our family we took the easy route which was to book our time off from work. But we didn’t really have a plan.
Last night we took the opportunity to plan our time together. See the result below. It was fun to get to understand what activities my son was most interested in doing, and it allowed him to feel like an equal in planning his time with us.
During the summer of COVID-19 last year, one of my girlfriends in Canada initiated an “Activity List” —just a bunch of ideas of things that she and her kids could do together. They put it up on the fridge so that people could turn to it in a moment of dulled inspiration.
Closing Thoughts
This continues to be a hard from some of us who are outside of the US and still in strike distancing situations. Trying to find ways to get motivated and upbeat is hard.
With your partner and kids, set aside a family moment as the schools close out to celebrate this year:
- Make a fun dinner together and set a fancy table
- Choose music that your kids love to listen to
- Invite friends (if you can) or FaceTime with loved ones
- Write a list of all that your children accomplished this year
- Think of things that you might like to do together this summer and make a point of writing them down
- Try something new (next week we are going to do a family riding lesson, hubbie included!).
I'd love to hear what you might be planning to do with your kids or how you celebrate in this time! Write me.
How can we help our children be the people we hope they will become?
Helping our children to navigate this world with authenticity
What it is and why it is important for working parents
Reflections on new ways of working
Reflections for parents
Ways to tackle Fall
In pursuit of time well-spent
Why women leave the workforce in greater numbers than men
Finding ways to rest amidst the bustle of family visits
Getting through the second half of summer break
