Depression: Children Acting Out
in the Classroom? Try Story telling.
There’s more to reading and storytelling than a
great ability to spell. It activates
your child’s imagination and creative ability to think. It also affects their mental well being. For an example my first book, Attitude of
Gratitude explores the idea that gratefulness makes us happy.
Attitude of Gratitude promotes
adopting a sense of optimism and happiness to banish the blues. In a comical
catastrophe, meet an Opinionated Owl, a Fearful Frog, a Mopey Mole and a Grumpy
Goat and follow them on their journey to contentment as they learn to transform
their complaints into understanding and joy.
There are many
studies that confirm this and the results are priceless. Gratitude researchers have found that being
grateful isn’t just a nice personal quality that leads to good manners. It
delivers a profound payoff. By being truly thankful for all that life provides,
a child has more chance of being emotionally, physically, and socially
successful. One still-unpublished study, conducted by Dr. Jeffrey Froh of
New York’s Hofstra University and Dr. Robert Emmons of
the University of California at Davis, has found that when older children (ages
14 to 19) are able to acknowledge their good fortune, they’re more likely to be
happy and experience lower levels of depression, envy, and materialism. There
also appears to be a connection between feeling grateful and having higher
GPA’s
Lower levels of
Depression envy and materialism means less anger, bullying and more teamwork
amongst colleagues and students. (More
time for teachers to devote to educating instead of behavior management)
Evidence from
our own research suggests
that grateful young adolescents (ages 11-13), compared to their less grateful
counterparts, are happier and more optimistic, have better social support, are
more satisfied with their school, family, community, friends, and themselves,
and give more emotional support to others. We’ve also found that
grateful teens (ages 14-19) are more satisfied with their lives, use their
strengths to better their community, are more engaged in their schoolwork and
hobbies, have higher grades, and are less envious, depressed, and
materialistic. (Dr Jeffery Froh, Giancomo Bono)
The National Centre for Learning
Disabilities suggests that reading storybooks on topics that address
friendships and social interaction and discuss the social components of
successful Interactions with others help children including those with
“behavioral challenges.
The cost effectiveness of having happy
kids in the classroom is priceless. It
cuts down on bullying, depression, and stress which means teachers have more
time to teach. It means less children
need counselors, meds, and build more solid friendships. They are more pleasant to be around.
Let’s instill into our children
gratefulness and raise happy kids who contribute to the classroom and reach out
to their peers in friendship instead of bullying!
I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Holly and I’m a special educator
and author. I’m in the process of having
my second book published and would like to tell you why I think my fables will
help your children’s social well being and education.
First of all my love of storytelling and reading
started at a very young age. My dad
would often keep my sister and I occupied on trips with his own tales. My sister and I loved to take turns making up
our own stories. As an avid reader like
my mom I used to sneak extra reading time under my blankets with a flashlight
at night. My teachers and parents credit
my love for reading to my advanced spelling ability.
I’m also an early childhood educator and special
education facilitator. My career
passions are teaching, writing, cultivating the creativity of your children and
entertaining them in an educational way.
