If you have noticed that your child is a little tired, this is a very normal part of a school cycle. If you child is really tired, this is a normal part of the high school cycle. If you are tired as a parent or teacher, this is perfectly normal for this time of year. The week before the final week of the third quarter is sometimes the week where the fatigue of a long quarter with only a few three day weekends shows up. This year, our third quarter had an increased numbers of students with the flu, respiratory infections, and a vicious cedar season. We have also had the warmest February based on the number of days over 80 degrees which only increases our desire for the upcoming Spring Break holiday. Magically; however, our whole community will get the ol’ “more pep in our step” as we head towards a week off, which also signals a mere 10 weeks left in the school year. When I was visiting with parents before our last PTO meeting, I mentioned the amount of days left before the end of the year. Some parents were excited, some were aghast, and some got a little teary eyed as they thought about the time left cruising along with their kid. We will have a mere forty-seven days of school left when we return from Spring Break.
This week, we had the opportunity to receive a message from Margaret Dunlap from Stanford’s based Challenge Success program. Mrs. Dunlap led our staff through a message and activities during our early release time. Mrs. Dunlap gave a presentation to our parents and community that same evening. We were thrilled to see over two hundred parents and students in attendance. With all the activities going on that evening, this was a rather large crowd of high school, middle school, and even elementary parents. There were two very interesting items/ideas that Mrs. Dunlap questioned or provided to both groups. The first reflective question was, “What do parents want the most for their children?” The research overwhelming reports that happiness is the number one thing parents want for their children. The interesting question that arises is: what is the “happiness” that they see for their kids - and that is where things become very personalized. Answers vary and folks become very entrenched on what happiness really means. This question of happiness may fit into the conversation of “what is success” that I mentioned a few weeks ago. The second piece of information that she shared was a fact. Our high school students spend an average of 9 hours a day on a device. A device was defined as anything that has a screen and can be turned on and off. This would include phones, laptops, tablets, CPUs, and even television. Nine hours is a huge amount of time that kids are spending on devices at home, in school, in cars, and simply everywhere. The use of devices is influenced by two major groups for teenagers who include peers and parents. Teenagers report that habits involving media and devices are first modeled by their parents and this serves as the foundation for acceptable use. This part of the presentation seemed to be a very thought provoking message as parents began to think about their own habits surrounding devices and screen time. Questions are great for consistently thinking about the process of parenting, for we all know all kids are different and situations are very unique. Keep on parenting and enjoying this amazing journey with your kids because 649 of our students will be graduating very soon. It's always a great day to be a Chaparral!
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Steve Ramsey: WHS Principal BlogPrincipal's Weekly Reflections Archives
May 2019
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