I thought this interview was so interesting.  I love playing games so it's win for me!
"We all want to raise smart, successful kids, so it's tempting to play Mozart for our babies and run math drills for kindergartners. After all, we need to give them a head start while they're still little sponges, right?
"It doesn't quite work that way," says Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a professor of psychology at Temple University and co-author of Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children with Roberta Golinkoff. She's been studying childhood development for almost 40 years.
So how does it work?  You need the "six C's" for kids to succeed -

• collaboration
• communication
• content
• critical thinking
• creative innovation 
• confidence

and why raising brilliant kids starts with redefining brilliant."  

​"It turns out that you learn better when things are joyful than when they're not joyful. So I bet your kids would help you a whole lot more if you made a game from the darks and the whites in that laundry room. Maybe you just have to throw it from different lines: a three-point line, two-point line, maybe even have the three-quarter-point line and the one-quarter-point line, and then they do fractions, right?

Play is active, not passive. And it turns out the way we learn is active, not passive. When we're sitting there like a couch potato we aren't learning as much as when we're doing.

It should be meaningful as opposed to meaningless, so when we're memorizing flashcards stuff, that's not play.
Generally, play is socially interactive as opposed to solo.
And it's iterative. That means each time you revisit it, there's something new to discover about it. I think you can have true play where the kid is the director, not the adult. And adults out there, don't interfere by jumping in and deciding what's going on with your child's play. Help by setting the environment and going with their story and supporting it."

So turn off those electronics and pull out the games!
​
Stay Healthy, Chaps!
-Katie & Kristi

New research looks into how mindfulness and compassion-focused therapy can help treat depression, anxiety and stress.
​
People who are feeling depressed, anxious, or stressed are often ruminating on other things. The very act of being able to slow down and give our attention only to the "here and now" and be kind to ourselves through this process as well - frees individuals from being stuck emotionally. 

Curious to know if you're excelling in this area? Take a Quick Self Compassion Quiz to learn more! 

Dear WHS Parents,

Back in the fall semester, PeaceBox: Mindfulness on the Move made its debut on campus after being donated to our campus as a part of the PeaceBox “Summer of Giving” program*. Over 400 students, staff, and community members visited the PeaceBox to learn quick mindfulness tools intended to reduce stress, improve focus, and enhance wellness.

Our students are currently tackling AP and STAAR testing and are gearing up to finish out strong during finals. In order to assist our students with this we have lined up a couple stress-reduction activities for “dead week”. The PeaceBox will be back on campus at the Chap Court on Tuesday, May 21st from 8am to 6pm. Additionally, Teen Teachers are working to bring emotional support dogs to campus next week as well.

WHS students, staff, and parents will have the option to participate in complimentary mindfulness exercises ranging from 5 to 20 minutes in length. Students will have access to the PeaceBox with teacher permission during the school day and their lunch periods. The PeaceBox will also be open to the community from 8am until the school bell rings at 8:50am and again from 4:15pm until 6pm. 

If you do not want your child to visit the PeaceBox please email Student Support Counselor Kristi Waidhofer .

The partnership with PeaceBox began last year when Westlake High School PTO funded a 6-week Mindfulness@Schools training offered by PeaceBox.  Sixteen WHS counselors and teachers participated and received certificates of completion.  Eanes ISD has a district wide initiative to keep focus on our educational objectives of communication (respect, civility, and tolerance), SEL - Social Emotional Learning (respect for all, empathy resilience), and innovation (always striving for best practice).  We believe this evolving partnership with PeaceBox will continue to advance us in each direction. 

If you would like to learn more about mindfulness, Stacy Thrash, owner of PeaceBox, presented at our Speaker Series in the fall and her presentation is here. More information about PeaceBox can be found at https://peacebox.com. 

*PeaceBox Summer of Giving program:
Austin-area Businesses partner with PeaceBox to donate "PEACE DAYS" mindfulness education and practice to eligible schools.  For every 2 days an employer hires PeaceBox to train their employees, one PEACE DAY will be donated to an eligible school.   

Stay Healthy, Chaps! 
​-Kristi Waidhofer

It has been a FABULOUS year of Speaker Series presentations. If you missed one or just want to revisit a presentation, they are all available in the Good Reads section. 

This week I had to dedicate the blog to this Speaker Series presentation because it was just so good! Even if you don't have seniors YET, it's never too early to begin learning to this advice! 

Take a watch and enjoy! 

Stay Healthy, Chaps!
-Kristi Waidhofer​

This post is for those with a stressful job. It’s likely that your place of work has a culture of busy-ness. By this, I mean that your office is hectic, everyone has massive to-do lists, and people are extremely busy— your boss may even be too busy to give you feedback. More and more recently, the American workplace culture has been defined by an incessant call for productivity. The attitude is that if you’re busy, you’re important. You’re needed. A never-ending to-do list, working lunches, and email answering from your cell phone at midnight are characteristic traits. Everyone wants to feel valued and respected in their professions, but constantly allowing yourself to be swamped can get unhealthy very quickly. Brené Brown, an esteemed professor at the University of Houston, calls this culture “exhaustion as a status symbol and productivity as self-worth.”
People who consider themselves workaholics might recognize that their work-life balance is disproportionate, but come up short with solutions. Often, those people feel too stressed to adequately enjoy quality time with their friends or families. They may even feel guilty when they do non-work-related activities, feeling preoccupied with emails that are piling up or a project with an approaching due date that needs their attention.

Brené Brown was interviewed in this Washington Post article, and she explained this concept further: 
“One of the things that I found [in her research] was the importance of rest and play, and the willingness to let go of exhaustion as a status symbol and productivity as self-worth. A lot of people told me that when they put their work away and when they try to be still and be with family, sometimes they feel like they’re coming out of their skins. They’re thinking of everything they’re not doing, and they’re not used to that pace. So when we make the transition from crazy-busy to rest, we have to find out what comforts us, what really refuels us, and do that. We deserve to not just put work away and be in service of someone else. What’s really meaningful for us? What do we want to be doing? That happens not just in work culture, I see it even with teenagers who now have four and five hours of homework and go to bed at one in the morning. We don’t know who we are without productivity as a metric of our worth. We don’t know what we enjoy, and we lose track of how tired we are.”

To practice self-care and establish an appropriate work-life balance, setting boundaries might be necessary. Brené Brown said:
“We have to encourage people to set boundaries around their work and respect them when they hold them. And I think as leaders we have to model that. One thing that I tell people all the time is, I’m not going to answer a call from you after nine o’clock at night or before nine o’clock in the morning unless it’s an emergency. To me, a leader is someone who holds her- or himself accountable for finding potential in people and processes. And so what I think is really important is sustainability. If it’s crunch time and from Tuesday morning through Wednesday night all bets are off, then there should be some real boundary holding Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. When people just don’t make themselves available, I think it’s healthy, and I think it’s smart.”

It’s great to be devoted to your job (or, if you're a student, to school), and it’s even better to consistently make efforts to do your best. We all need our jobs: we have bills to pay and mouths to feed! But if you’ve been feeling like your job has infected the rest of your life, do yourself (and your loved ones) a favor by taking a step back and setting some healthy boundaries.

Since setting boundaries is much easier said than done, here are some good reads with solid tips on how to do this:

• Setting Boundaries at Work
• 7 Ways to Advocate for Yourself at Work
• How to Advocate for Yourself in High School
• 10 Steps to Being an Effective Self Advocate

Stay healthy, Chaps!
--Kirsten Dalquist, MSSW Intern
​

Confidence is coveted but sometimes hard to achieve. Social media has made it very easy for us to compare ourselves to others, which is a surefire way to lose confidence in ourselves. We might see a picture of someone who we perceive to be more attractive than us. Or we might see someone posting about positive feedback that they received at work, which might make us doubt our own abilities if we are less prone to receiving positive feedback. Such comparison facilitates a lack of confidence in ourselves and our abilities. 

Confidence makes us happier, feel more positive, and attracts other people to us. I believe that, for the most part, we all want to be confident. But the truth is that a great number of us are self-critical and have low self-esteem. Some people may think it would be impossible to ever be confident in themselves. Maybe an all-encompassing, permanent confidence in every aspect of yourself is impossible-- we all need to critically appraise ourselves every once in a while-- but raising your confidence levels is both possible and within your control. If you want to be a more confident, self-assured person, here are some tips that may help you reach your goal. 

Tips for increasing confidence: 

• Eliminate negative thoughts. Although it takes some practice, eventually you can learn how to identify and throw away your automatic negative thoughts. Read our blog post here about how thoughts are just thoughts-- involuntary events that do not reflect the “truth” or reality. With practice, you can train your mind to avoid subjects you don’t want to spend time thinking about. For example, if you tend to be self-critical of yourself throughout the day, you can learn to recognize when you're about to go down that negative path in your mind, intercept the thought, and move to a more positive thought.
• Clean your body. This may seem like a strange addition to this list, but the truth is that most of us feel our best when we are looking and smelling our best. Give yourself adequate time to get ready in the mornings, and make sure you are practicing good hygiene skills.
• Exercise. Moving our bodies increases the release of chemicals called endorphins, which trigger positive feelings in our bodies and minds. Exercising frequently makes us feel productive, more energetic, and happier.
• Push yourself to get out of your comfort zone. Often, when faced with a task we haven’t tried before, we are not confident in our abilities. A little practice is all we need to become more familiar with the task and start taking steps toward confidence! 
• Give yourself time to prepare. It’s hard to be confident if you feel unprepared to do something. You might doubt that you will do well if you are unprepared. Think of giving a presentation: if you haven’t prepared what you’re going to say, you might flounder in front of your audience. To avoid this, practice! Give yourself plenty of time to prepare and practice. You will thank yourself.
• Stand tall. Amy Cuddy’s research (watch this fascinating Ted Talk!) suggests that our bodies can convince our minds to be more confident. For example, standing straight is a much more empowering stance than hunching over with our arms crossed. The latter conveys discomfort to other people and to ourselves; the former conveys confidence.
• Set small goals and achieve them. This is a surefire way for gaining trust in your abilities. We often set large, lofty goals for ourselves and get discouraged when we fail to meet them. Yet, are we being realistic with ourselves? If we have never run before but want to start, setting a goal of jogging for three minutes every day is much more realistic than immeditaly being able to run three miles. Achieving a small goal is a stepping stone to bigger goals, and it makes us feel good about ourselves along the way. 

These are just a few ideas of how to achieve the confidence that you deserve! If you want to read more ideas, check out this article. 

Because confidence is sometimes misconstrued as arrogance, I just want to point out that it is possible to be confident:

• Without being arrogant or narcissistic
• While acknowledging that other people also have things to be confident about. Just because someone else is beautiful does not mean you are not! 
• While accepting the fact that, as human beings, we all have imperfections. That  doesn't mean we aren't still awesome! 

Stay happy and healthy, Chaps!
--Kirsten Dalquist, MSSW Intern